System and method for adaptive modulation

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and/or techniques for improving downlink spectrum efficiency may be disclosed. For example, a higher order modulation (HOM) transmission may be provided to a device. The higher order modulation transmission may be configured to be indicated by the network or a device. Additionally, multiple modulation and coding scheme (MCS) tables, transport block size (TBS) tables, and/or channel quality index (CQI) tables may be provided to support the higher order modulation transmission.

BACKGROUND

Current specifications, systems, and/or methods (e.g., LTEspecifications, systems, and/or methods) may be targeted to support awide range of deployments in terms of cell sizes, environments, and/ordevice speeds. As such, the physical layer may not be designed to takeadvantage of specific channel characteristics of the small cellenvironment thereby resulting in several limitations focusing on thedownlink. For example, the current system may not support modulations ofhigher order than 64-QAM in the downlink. As such, the spectrumefficiency of a device located close to a small cell base station may belimited compared to what may be possible based on itssignal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio. Additionally, the potentialsystem throughput gains of small cells may not be attainable ifresources may be consumed by overhead where such overhead may includeresources used up by control signaling such as PDCCH or E-PDCCH,resources used up by physical signals not carrying information such asDM-RS, resource wasted when the minimum resource allocation unit for aUE may be larger than what may be needed, and the like. This may be aproblem even if the bandwidth available to the small cell layer may berelatively large, because in a small cell cluster highsignal-to-interference ratios may involve some form of frequency reuse(e.g., either through ICIC or some static mechanism) that may reduce thebandwidth available to each cell.

SUMMARY

Systems, methods, and/or techniques for providing a higher ordermodulation (HOM) and/or improving spectral efficiency may be disclosed.For example, a HOM transmission may be provided to a device such as userequipment (UE) or a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU). According toan example embodiment, the higher order modulation transmission may beconfigured to be indicated by the network or the device. Additionally,multiple modulation and coding scheme (MCS) tables, transport block size(TBS) tables, and/or channel quality index (CQI) tables may be providedto support the HOM transmission. Such MCS and/or TBS tables may bescaled. In an embodiment, a CQI table configured to support the higherorder modulation may be determined based on which MCS table may supportthe higher order modulation. Additionally, a CQI feedback configurationmay be provided and/or used in such higher order modulation.Furthermore, data from a transport channel into a physical downlinkcontrol channel may be mapped; reception of a PDSCH over a set offrequency allocation or parameters may be attempted; downlink controlinformation on the PDSCH may be mapped; the downlink control informationmay be multiplexed with the transport data on the PDSCH; the PDSCH maybe received over a particular time slot or a subset of sub-carriers of aresource block pair, and the like. Additionally, in an embodiment,SA-PDSCH may be provided and/or used, for example, in combination withcross- or multi-subframe allocation. According to embodiments, one ormore configurations for the higher order modulation may further beprovided. Such configurations may include a ratio of PDSCH EPRE tocell-specific RS EPRE, reuse of quasi co-location indicator bits, rankrestrictions for higher order modulation. RE mapping of PDSCH may alsobe provided and/or used for the higher order modulation.

For example, a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) table and a secondMCS table may be provided at or by a network. The first MCS table mayinclude an element table such as a 32-element table of MCSs or codingschemes for QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM. The second MCS table may include anelement table such as a 32-element table of a MCS or coding scheme forat least 256QAM. In an example, the combination of the first and secondMCS tables may enable support for the HOM transmission and themodulation orders or MCS coding that may be provided thereby. A downlinkassignment may be provided and sent from the network to the device. Thedownlink assignment may include an indication of whether the deviceshould use the first MCS table or the second MCS table for the HOMtransmissions and/or MCS selection, modulation order selection or use,and/or the like for the HOM transmissions.

Additionally, in an example, a first channel quality indicator (CQI)table and a second CQI table may be provided at or by a device such as aUE or WTRU. The first CQI table may include an element table such as a16-element table of CQIs (e.g., feedback or measurements or CQI values)QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM. The second CQI table may include an elementtable such as a 16-element table of a CQI (e.g., feedback ormeasurements or CQI values) for 256QAM. In an example, the combinationof the first and second CQI tables may enable support for the HOMtransmission and CSI or CQI reporting or measurements that may beprovided thereby. A channel state information (CSI) report may be sentthat may include an indication of whether the first CQI table or thesecond CQI table should be used for feedback reporting or measurementsof HOM transmissions.

The Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, not is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore,the claimed subject matter is not limited to the limitations that solveone or more disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding of the embodiments disclosed herein may behad from the following description, given by way of example inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1A depicts a diagram of an example communications system in whichone or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented.

FIG. 1B depicts a system diagram of an example wireless transmit/receiveunit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications systemillustrated in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1C depicts a system diagram of an example radio access network andan example core network that may be used within the communicationssystem illustrated in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1D depicts a system diagram of another example radio access networkand an example core network that may be used within the communicationssystem illustrated in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1E depicts a system diagram of another example radio access networkand an example core network that may be used within the communicationssystem illustrated in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 depicts a diagram of an example communication system with cellsthat may have different sizes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of illustrative embodiments will now be describedwith reference to the various Figures. Although this descriptionprovides a detailed example of possible implementations, it should benoted that the details are intended to be exemplary and in no way limitthe scope of the application.

Systems and/or methods for providing improved downlink spectrumefficiency may be disclosed and may include and/or use channel coding,multiplexing, CSI feedback, and the like. For example, in such systemsand/or methods, a UE may use multiple MCS and CQI tables to supporthigher modulation and/or may determine a CQI table to use based on whichMCS table may be used or may be indicated by the network in DCI orhigher layer signaling. Additionally, in such systems and/or methods,data from a transport channel may be mapped into a physical downlinkcontrol channel such as PDCCH or E-PDCCH. In such systems and/ormethods, a UE may also provide reception of PDSCH over more than one setof frequency allocations and parameters where the sets may be indicatedin downlink control signaling received a sub-frame (e.g., a previoussub-frame). Furthermore, in such systems and/or methods, downlinkcontrol information may be multiplexed with transport channel data onPDSCH, PDSCH may be received over a single time slot and/or over asubset of sub-carriers of a resource block pair. DL-SCH HARQ round-triptime may be decreased when PDSCH may be received over a single timeslot, and the like. Additionally, in an embodiment, SA-PDSCH may beprovided and/or used, for example, in combination with cross- ormulti-subframe allocation. Furthermore, systems and/or methods may beprovided to scale, for example, via a function or translation table, MSCand/or TBS stables to enable a higher order modulation (HOM) transportblock sizes. Periodic and Aperiodic feedback configuration for differentCQI Tables may further be provided. Additionally, in embodiments, one ormore configurations for HOM including PDSCH-to-RS EPRE, PQI bitreinterpretation, rank restrictions (e.g., to reuse the antenna port(s),scrambling identity and number of layers indication), and/or the likemay be provided and/or used. A RE mapping (e.g., a new RE mapping) ofPDSCH and codeblock lengths for HOM to fairly spread out one or morecodeblocks may also be used and/or provided. In an example, RE mappingmay be provided in a frequency or frequency domain such that that a codeblock may spread over an allocation such as the whole allocation asdescribed herein.

FIG. 1A depicts a diagram of an example communications system 100 inwhich one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. Thecommunications system 100 may be a multiple access system that providescontent, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., tomultiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enablemultiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing ofsystem resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, thecommunications systems 100 may employ one or more channel accessmethods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA),orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wirelesstransmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d (whichgenerally or collectively may be referred to as WTRU 102), a radioaccess network (RAN) 103/104/105, a core network 106/107/109, a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and othernetworks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosedembodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks,and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or102 d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicatein a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c, and/or 102 d may be configured to transmit and/or receivewireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), a mobile station,a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, apersonal computer, a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and thelike.

The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114 a anda base station 114 b. Each of the base stations 114 a, 114 b may be anytype of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one ofthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d to facilitate access to oneor more communication networks, such as the core network 106/107/109,the Internet 110, and/or the networks 112. By way of example, the basestations 114 a and/or 114 b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), aNode-B, an eNode B, a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a site controller, anaccess point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the basestations 114 a, 114 b are each depicted as a single element, it will beappreciated that the base stations 114 a, 114 b may include any numberof interconnected base stations and/or network elements.

The base station 114 a may be part of the RAN 103/104/105, which mayalso include other base stations and/or network elements (not shown),such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller(RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114 a and/or the base station114 b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signalswithin a particular geographic region, which may be referred to as acell (not shown). The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. Forexample, the cell associated with the base station 114 a may be dividedinto three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114 a mayinclude three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. Inanother embodiment, the base station 114 a may employ multiple-inputmultiple output (MIMO) technology and, therefore, may utilize multipletransceivers for each sector of the cell.

The base stations 114 a and/or 114 b may communicate with one or more ofthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d over an air interface115/116/117, which may be any suitable wireless communication link(e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV),visible light, etc.). The air interface 115/116/117 may be establishedusing any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may bea multiple access system and may employ one or more channel accessschemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA. OFDMA. SC-FDMA, and the like. Forexample, the base station 114 a in the RAN 103/104/105 and the WTRUs 102a, 102 b, and/or 102 c may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial RadioAccess (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 115/116/117 usingwideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such asHigh-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA mayinclude High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-SpeedUplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

In another embodiment, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102b, and/or 102 c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface115/116/117 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

In other embodiments, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,and/or 102 c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.16 (i.e.,Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000,CDMA2000 1×, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), InterimStandard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System forMobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

The base station 114 b in FIG. 1A may be a wireless router, Home Node B,Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitableRAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such asa place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, and the like. In oneembodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d mayimplement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN). In another embodiment, the base station 114 band the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yetanother embodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 dmay utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE,LTE-A, etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A,the base station 114 b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110.Thus, the base station 114 b may not be required to access the Internet110 via the core network 106/107/109.

The RAN 103/104/105 may be in communication with the core network106/107/109, which may be any type of network configured to providevoice, data, applications, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP)services to one or more of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d.For example, the core network 106/107/109 may provide call control,billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling,Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and/or performhigh-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although notshown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 103/104/105 and/orthe core network 106/107/109 may be in direct or indirect communicationwith other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 103/104/105 or adifferent RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN103/104/105, which may be utilizing an E-UTRA radio technology, the corenetwork 106/107/109 may also be in communication with another RAN (notshown) employing a GSM radio technology.

The core network 106/107/109 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet110, and/or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may includecircuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephoneservice (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system ofinterconnected computer networks and devices that use commoncommunication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol(TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and the internet protocol (IP) inthe TCP/IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wiredor wireless communications networks owned and/or operated by otherservice providers. For example, the networks 112 may include anothercore network connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the sameRAT as the RAN 103/104/105 or a different RAT.

Some or all of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d in thecommunications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities, i.e., theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d may include multipletransceivers for communicating with different wireless networks overdifferent wireless links. For example, the WTRU 102 c shown in FIG. 1Amay be configured to communicate with the base station 114 a, which mayemploy a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

FIG. 1B depicts a system diagram of an example WTRU 102. As shown inFIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, atransmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, adisplay/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, apower source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, andother peripherals 138. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 mayinclude any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remainingconsistent with an embodiment. Also, embodiments contemplate that thebase stations 114 a and 114 b, and/or the nodes that base stations 114 aand 114 b may represent, such as but not limited to transceiver station(BTS), a Node-B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a home node-B,an evolved home node-B (eNodeB), a home evolved node-B (HeNB), a homeevolved node-B gateway, and proxy nodes, among others, may include someor all of the elements depicted in FIG. 1B and described herein.

The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purposeprocessor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in associationwith a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs)circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine,and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, dataprocessing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any otherfunctionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wirelessenvironment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120,which may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 1Bdepicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separatecomponents, it may be appreciated that the processor 118 and thetransceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package orchip.

The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signalsto, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 115/116/117. For example, in one embodiment,the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured totransmit and/or receive RF signals. In another embodiment, thetransmit/receive element 122 may be an emitter/detector configured totransmit and/or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example.In yet another embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may beconfigured to transmit and receive both RF and light signals. It will beappreciated that the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured totransmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

In addition, although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted inFIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number oftransmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 mayemploy MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 mayinclude two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multipleantennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the airinterface 115/116/117.

The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that areto be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and to demodulatethe signals that are received by the transmit/receive element 122. Asnoted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, thetransceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as UTRA and IEEE 802.11, forexample.

The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receiveuser input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/orthe display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) displayunit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 mayaccess information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory,such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132.The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storagedevice. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identitymodule (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card,and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may accessinformation from, and store data in, memory that is not physicallylocated on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (notshown).

The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and maybe configured to distribute and/or control the power to the othercomponents in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitabledevice for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 mayinclude one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd),nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion),etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which maybe configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude andlatitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In additionto, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU102 may receive location information over the air interface 115/116/117from a base station (e.g., base stations 114 a, 114 b) and/or determineits location based on the timing of the signals being received from twoor more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102may acquire location information by way of any suitablelocation-determination method while remaining consistent with anembodiment.

The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, whichmay include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provideadditional features, functionality and/or wired or wirelessconnectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include anaccelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera(for photographs or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, avibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, aBluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digitalmusic player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internetbrowser, and the like.

FIG. 1C depicts a system diagram of the RAN 103 and the core network 106according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 103 may employ aUTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or102 c over the air interface 115. The RAN 103 may also be incommunication with the core network 106. As shown in FIG. 1C, the RAN103 may include Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b, and/or 140 c, which may eachinclude one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102 a,102 b, and/or 102 c over the air interface 115. The Node-Bs 140 a, 140b, and/or 140 c may each be associated with a particular cell (notshown) within the RAN 103. The RAN 103 may also include RNCs 142 aand/or 142 b. It will be appreciated that the RAN 103 may include anynumber of Node-Bs and RNCs while remaining consistent with anembodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1C, the Node-Bs 140 a and/or 140 b may be incommunication with the RNC 142 a. Additionally, the Node-B 140 c may bein communication with the RNC142 b. The Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b, and/or 140c may communicate with the respective RNCs 142 a, 142 b via an Tubinterface. The RNCs 142 a, 142 b may be in communication with oneanother via an Iur interface. Each of the RNCs 142 a, 142 b may beconfigured to control the respective Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b, and/or 140 cto which it is connected. In addition, each of the RNCs 142 a, 142 b maybe configured to carry out or support other functionality, such as outerloop power control, load control, admission control, packet scheduling,handover control, macrodiversity, security functions, data encryption,and the like.

The core network 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a media gateway (MGW)144, a mobile switching center (MSC) 146, a serving GPRS support node(SGSN) 148, and/or a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 150. While each ofthe foregoing elements are depicted as part of the core network 106, itwill be appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned and/oroperated by an entity other than the core network operator.

The RNC 142 a in the RAN 103 may be connected to the MSC 146 in the corenetwork 106 via an IuCS interface. The MSC 146 may be connected to theMGW 144. The MSC 146 and the MGW 144 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,and/or 102 c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or102 c and traditional land-line communications devices.

The RNC 142 a in the RAN 103 may also be connected to the SGSN 148 inthe core network 106 via an IuPS interface. The SGSN 148 may beconnected to the GGSN 150. The SGSN 148 and the GGSN 150 may provide theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c with access to packet-switchednetworks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications betweenand the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c and IP-enabled devices.

As noted above, the core network 106 may also be connected to thenetworks 112, which may include other wired or wireless networks thatare owned and/or operated by other service providers.

FIG. 1D depicts a system diagram of the RAN 104 and the core network 107according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ anE-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,and/or 102 c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be incommunication with the core network 107.

The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, and/or 160 c, though itwill be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bswhile remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160 a, 160b, and/or 160 c may each include one or more transceivers forcommunicating with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c over the airinterface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, and/or 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160 a, for example,may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receivewireless signals from, the WTRU 102 a.

Each of the eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, and/or 160 c may be associated with aparticular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radioresource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of usersin the uplink and/or downlink, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1D, theeNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, and/or 160 c may communicate with one anotherover an X2 interface.

The core network 107 shown in FIG. 1D may include a mobility managementgateway (MME) 162, a serving gateway 164, and a packet data network(PDN) gateway 166. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted aspart of the core network 107, it will be appreciated that any one ofthese elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than thecore network operator.

The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b,and/or 160 c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as acontrol node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible forauthenticating users of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c, beareractivation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway duringan initial attach of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c, and the like.The MME 162 may also provide a control plane function for switchingbetween the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radiotechnologies, such as GSM or WCDMA.

The serving gateway 164 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160 a,160 b, and/or 160 c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The servinggateway 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to/fromthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c. The serving gateway 164 may alsoperform other functions, such as anchoring user planes duringinter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when downlink data isavailable for the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c, managing and storingcontexts of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c, and the like.

The serving gateway 164 may also be connected to the PDN gateway 166,which may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c with access topacket-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitatecommunications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c andIP-enabled devices.

The core network 107 may facilitate communications with other networks.For example, the core network 107 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,and/or 102 c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or102 c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, thecore network 107 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway(e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as aninterface between the core network 107 and the PSTN 108. In addition,the core network 107 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 cwith access to the networks 112, which may include other wired orwireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other serviceproviders.

FIG. 1E depicts a system diagram of the RAN 105 and the core network 109according to an embodiment. The RAN 105 may be an access service network(ASN) that employs IEEE 802.16 radio technology to communicate with theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c over the air interface 117. As will befurther discussed below, the communication links between the differentfunctional entities of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c, the RAN105, and the core network 109 may be defined as reference points.

As shown in FIG. 1E, the RAN 105 may include base stations 180 a, 180 b,and/or 180 c, and an ASN gateway 182, though it will be appreciated thatthe RAN 105 may include any number of base stations and ASN gatewayswhile remaining consistent with an embodiment. The base stations 180 a,180 b, and/or 180 c may each be associated with a particular cell (notshown) in the RAN 105 and may each include one or more transceivers forcommunicating with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c over the airinterface 117. In one embodiment, the base stations 180 a, 180 b, and/or180 c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the base station 180 a, forexample, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, andreceive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102 a. The base stations 180 a,180 b, and/or 180 c may also provide mobility management functions, suchas handoff triggering, tunnel establishment, radio resource management,traffic classification, quality of service (QoS) policy enforcement, andthe like. The ASN gateway 182 may serve as a traffic aggregation pointand may be responsible for paging, caching of subscriber profiles,routing to the core network 109, and the like.

The air interface 117 between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c andthe RAN 105 may be defined as an R1 reference point that implements theIEEE 802.16 specification. In addition, each of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,and/or 102 c may establish a logical interface (not shown) with the corenetwork 109. The logical interface between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,and/or 102 c and the core network 109 may be defined as an R2 referencepoint, which may be used for authentication, authorization, IP hostconfiguration management, and/or mobility management.

The communication link between each of the base stations 180 a, 180 b,and/or 180 c may be defined as an R8 reference point that includesprotocols for facilitating WTRU handovers and the transfer of databetween base stations. The communication link between the base stations180 a, 180 b, and/or 180 c and the ASN gateway 182 may be defined as anR6 reference point. The R6 reference point may include protocols forfacilitating mobility management based on mobility events associatedwith each of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c.

As shown in FIG. 1E, the RAN 105 may be connected to the core network109. The communication link between the RAN 105 and the core network 109may defined as an R3 reference point that includes protocols forfacilitating data transfer and mobility management capabilities, forexample. The core network 109 may include a mobile IP home agent(MIP-HA) 184, an authentication, authorization, accounting (AAA) server186, and a gateway 188. While each of the foregoing elements aredepicted as part of the core network 109, it will be appreciated thatany one of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entityother than the core network operator.

The MIP-HA may be responsible for IP address management, and may enablethe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c to roam between different ASNsand/or different core networks. The MIP-HA 184 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102 b, and/or 102 c with access to packet-switched networks, such asthe Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a,102 b, and/or 102 c and IP-enabled devices. The AAA server 186 may beresponsible for user authentication and for supporting user services.The gateway 188 may facilitate interworking with other networks. Forexample, the gateway 188 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, tofacilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 cand traditional land-line communications devices. In addition, thegateway 188 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c with accessto the networks 112, which may include other wired or wireless networksthat are owned and/or operated by other service providers.

Although not shown in FIG. 1E, it should, may, and/or will beappreciated that the RAN 105 may be connected to other ASNs and the corenetwork 109 may be connected to other core networks. The communicationlink between the RAN 105 the other ASNs may be defined as an R4reference point, which may include protocols for coordinating themobility of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, and/or 102 c between the RAN 105 andthe other ASNs. The communication link between the core network 109 andthe other core networks may be defined as an R5 reference, which mayinclude protocols for facilitating interworking between home corenetworks and visited core networks.

In an embodiment, the deployment of a layer of small cells may be usedto handle, for example, increasing capacity requirements that may bedriven by the popularity of data-hungry devices such as smart phones.The layer of small cells may operate in a separate frequency band thancells that may be used by macro cell layer and/or may operate in thesame frequency band. Using such examples, additional capacity may beexpected to be provided via, for example, additional spectrum resourcesand/or by cell reuse as well as from spectrum efficiency gains that maybe yielded by the channel characteristics of the small cell environment.For example, a distribution of path loss between the small cell and aconnected device may be provided such that large values ofsignal-to-noise-ratio may be encountered more frequently. This may beexploited, in an example, by introducing support for higher-ordermodulations.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example embodiment of a network with smaller andlarger cells that may be used herein. The network (e.g., network 200)may include, for example, one or more layers of larger cells (e.g.,macro cells) such as a cell 205 and/or one or more layers of smallercells (e.g., pico cells, femto cells, and the like) such as cells 210 aand 210 b and/or cells 215 a-c that may be used to provide communicationto a device (e.g., 220) that may be a UE and/or WTRU 102 a-d describedwith respect to FIGS. 1A-1E. According to an embodiment, the coveragearea of the smaller cells may be less than that of the larger cells.Additionally, the larger cells and smaller cells may or may not beoperating on the same frequency layer. The cells (e.g., 205, 210 a-c,and/or 215 a-f) of the network (e.g., 200) may be part of one or morecomponents of a communication network such as the communication network100 described herein including a radio access network, base station,and/or the like and may be in communication with a core network.

In examples (e.g., in Rel-11), orders of modulation that may be allowedor used in the networks described herein (e.g., 100 and/or 200) mayinclude QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM. To use such orders, the network such asthe network 100 and/or 200 and components thereof described herein withrespect to FIGS. 1A and 1C-1E and FIG. 2 may indicate to a device suchas UE or WTRU including the WTRUs 102 a-d described with respect toFIGS. 1A-1E a modulation and coding scheme (MCS). In an example, the MSCmay be indicated using 5 bits in a downlink assignment. The five bitsmay map to a modulation order and transport block size (e.g., when tiedto a resource block allocation that may also be signaled in the downlinkassignment). In an embodiment, the mapping may be determined from apre-configured set of tables. For example, a MCS Table may be used todetermine a modulation order and/or a transport block index where theindex may be used in conjunction with the resource allocation size todetermine the transport block size. A device may indicate to the networkits preferred CQI using 4 bits in CSI feedback. The four bits may map toa modulation and code rate with a mapping that may be determined from apre-configured table (e.g., a CQI Table).

As described herein, current specifications, systems, and/or methods(e.g., LTE specifications, systems, and/or methods) may be targeted tosupport a wide range of deployments in terms of cell sizes,environments, and/or device speeds. As such, the physical layerassociated with such specifications, systems, and/or methods may not bedesigned to take advantage of specific channel characteristics of thesmall cell environment. This may result in one or more limitations onthe downlink. For example, the current system may not supportmodulations of higher order than 64-QAM in the downlink. As such, thespectrum efficiency of a device located close to a small cell basestation may be limited compared to what may be possible considering itssignal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio. Additionally, the potentialsystem throughput gains of small cells may not be attainable ifresources may be consumed by overhead where such overhead may includeresources that may be used up by control signaling such as PDCCH orE-PDCCH, resources that may be used up by physical signals not carryinginformation such as DM-RS, resource that may be wasted when the minimumresource allocation unit for a device may be larger than what may beneeded, and the like. This may be a problem, for example, even if thebandwidth available to the small cell layer may be relatively large,because in a small cell cluster high signal-to-interference ratios mayinvolve some form of frequency reuse (e.g., either through ICIC or somestatic mechanism) that may reduce the bandwidth available to each cell.

As such, systems and/or methods described herein may be provided to takeadvantage of channel characteristics of a small cell environment and, inparticular, in the downlink, to support modulation of a higher order,for example, in the downlink, to improve throughput gains of small cellsthat may be otherwise reduced when resources may be consumed byoverhead, and the like. For example, a higher-order modulation may beprovided, received, and/or used. In an embodiment, a device such as a UEor WTRU such as WTRUs 102 a-d described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1E mayoperate close (e.g., very close or similar) to a small cell basestation, or equivalently, the signal to noise ratio of a transmissionfrom a small cell may be high (e.g., very high). Additionally, incurrent systems and/or methods (e.g., in Rel-11), the highest spectralefficiency a device may recommend to a network may be 5.5547 bps/Hz(e.g., using 64QAM). However, it may be possible that such a device maybe served at a higher spectral efficiency. As such, the throughput(e.g., a maximum throughput) may be increased. Such an increase inthroughput may enable better scheduling flexibility at an eNB or basestation such as the bases stations, NodeBs, or eNBs (e.g., 114 a-b, 140a-c, 160 a-c, and/or 180 a-c) described with respect to FIGS. 1A and1C-1E, possibly lower system interference, better user experience,and/or the like. Examples (e.g., systems and/or methods) for enablinguse of higher order modulation transmission to a device may be describedherein and may include providing an indication of a higher ordermodulation scheme to a device and/or enabling a device to indicate adesired higher order modulation.

In examples, multiple MCS tables may be provided and/or used to, forexample, provide HOM in a device. For example, to accommodate higherorder modulation, a network may use a set of MCS tables instead of asingle MCS table. The network may use a 32-element table (e.g., a firsttable or first MCS table such as a Rel-11 32-element table) that may bevalid for QPSK, 16QAM, and/or 64QAM (e.g., a first set of modulationorders or values). The network may use a new 32-element table (e.g., asecond table or second MCS table) that may be valid for 256QAM (e.g., asecond set of modulation orders or values). According to an example, thesecond table may keep some values reserved for future expansion.Alternatively or additionally, the second table may be fewer than 32elements and may use fewer bits of signaling. The second table may havevalues for QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, and/or 256QAM (e.g., the second set ofmodulation orders or values may include the orders or values of thefirst set along with 256QAM). Each modulation order may have fewercoding schemes than current or typical tables (e.g., in the Rel-11table) to ensure that 32 elements may still be enough to accommodate thenew modulation orders. The second table may have more than 32 elementsin an example. As such, in an example, a first MCS table and a secondMCS table may be provided to enable MCS selection or coding selection inHOM transmissions (e.g., transmissions using modulation orders or valuessuch as QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, and/or 256QAM described herein).

According to an example (e.g., when a device may be configured forpossible reception of PDSCH that may span the modulation orders ofmultiple tables), the network may indicate in a downlink assignment, theMCS table configured to be used with the MCS index that may be provided.For example, the network may send a downlink assignment comprising anindication of whether the first or second MCS tables should be used bythe device for HOM transmissions. In an embodiment, the indication maybe sent when the device may be configured for reception of a physicaldata shared channel (PDSCH) that may span modulation orders of both thefirst MCS table and the second MCS table.

Such an indication may be explicit and may use at least one of thefollowing. For example, such an indication may use a bit (e.g., a newbit) in the downlink assignment. Such a bit may indicate the table to beused or may be tied to a 5-bit string (e.g., the Rel-11 5-bit string) tocreate a 6-bit string. In an example, if there are more than two MCStables, multiple bits (e.g., a bit string that may include new bits) maybe provided and/or used. Additionally, such an indication may use higherlayer signaling, for example, to semi-statically configure a device touse a specific table. According to additional examples, such anindication may include or use a new transmission mode (e.g., such asTM11). For example, a device operating in such a particular transmissionmode such as a new transmission mode may be configured to operate with aspecific MCS table. In such an example, TM11 may be used for highspectral efficiency and, thus, may be associated to be used with an MCStable that may enable or allow for higher spectral efficiency. Such anindication may also use a different scrambling code for the downlinkassignment. For example, a device may have, provide, or use a C-RNTI forlow order modulation and a different C-RNTI for high-order modulation.

The MCS table that may be configured to be used to map the MCS bit inthe downlink assignment (e.g., to a value of modulation and coding) maybe indicated implicitly by at least one of following. The MCS table maybe indicated implicitly by the type of downlink assignment used. Forexample, each DCI Format may be associated with a specific MCS Table. Inone method, a new DCI Format (e.g., DCI Format 5) may be used toschedule devices such as UEs or WTRUs while using a MCS table such as anew MCS table. Additionally, the MCS table may be indicated implicitlyby the channel used for downlink assignment. For example, a network mayuse either PDCCH or E-PDCCH to transmit DCI. The MCS table used may betied to the use of either PDCCH or E-PDCCH. The MCS table may beindicated implicitly by a parameter (e.g. the type or the physicalresources used) of the E-PDCCH used to transmit the downlink assignment;the search space used (e.g., a device-specific or UE-specific searchspace DCI may be tied to one MCS table, such as a table suitable for HOMtransmission, while common search space DCI may be tied to another, suchas a legacy MCS table); the subframe in which the downlink assignmentmay be provided where, for example, there may be subframe subsets tiedto each MCS table; the carrier indication in the downlink assignmentwhere, for example, a device may be configured with multiple carriers,each of which may be configured to operate with a specific MCS table;and/or the like. The association of a legacy MCS table to a commonsearch space may allow the network to revert (e.g., quickly) to a tableallowing access to the most robust modulation and coding schemes in casethe radio conditions suddenly deteriorate.

Scaling of MCS and/or TBS tables may be provided and/or used asdescribed herein. In an example, the modulation and TBS index table maybe reinterpreted by use of a scaling function. For example, whentriggered (e.g., possibly by a higher layer configuration or by dynamicsignaling within a DCI), the modulation order associated with each MCSindex may be reinterpreted as Q_(m)*=Q_(m)+Δ where Q_(m) may representthe modulation order that may be obtained by the MCS index and thelegacy table and Q*_(m) may represent the modulation order to be used.The value of Δ may be fixed for the MCS indices (e.g., Δ=2 may be usedfor the MCS indices). Each MCS Index may have its own Δ. In such anexample, different values of Δ may enable the modulation and TBS indextable to retain some legacy MCS levels.

Modulation and TBS index tables that may be used to enable higher ordermodulation (HOM) may scale the TBS Index (I_(TBS)). For example, whentriggered for use with HOM, the TBS index to be used may be obtainedfrom the MCS index as well as the legacy TBS index asI_(TBS)*=I_(TBS)+α. The value of α may be common to the MCS indices ormay be different for each MCS index.

Additionally, in an example, a total number of allocated PRBs asobtained by the DCI grant or assignment may be set as N_(PRB)′. Thecolumn indicator that may be used to determine the transport block size(TBS) may be obtained from the following: N_(PRB)=f(g(N_(PRB)′×γ)) whereγ may be a pre-configured constant and f and g may be functions. Forexample, f may be f(x)=x, f(x)=max(x, 1) or f(x)=min(x, max(TBS)) wheremax(TBS) may be preconfigured. In an example, g may be g(x)=x, a ceilingfunction or floor function. Additionally, an example scaling functionmay be N_(PRB)=max(┌N_(PRB) ′×8/6┐, max(TBS)).

The N_(PRB)=f(g(N_(PRB)′×γ)) function may be used for the MCS indices,for example, when a device may be configured to possibly use HOM. Inanother or additional example, the N_(PRB)=f(g(N_(PRB)′×γ)) function maybe used for MCS indices that specifically use certain modulation levels.The rest of the indices may use N_(PRB)=N_(PRB)′.

Additionally, in an example, the TBS may be first determined from theTBS index and the number of allocated PRBs. A UE may also bepre-configured with a TBS translation table to be used for HOM, forexample, converting the TBS obtained from the TBS index and number ofallocated PRBs to another TBS value.

According to additional embodiments, any combination of the above can beused to scale the MCS and TBS values. For example, for some values ofnumber of allocated PRBs, a function may be used and for other values ofallocated PRBs a translation table may be used.

Multiple CQI tables may also be provided and/or used. For example, toallow for or enable higher order modulation, a device may use a set ofCQI tables. As an example table (e.g., a first table or first CQItable), the device may use a 16-element table (e.g., the current Rel-1116-element table) that includes CQI values that may be valid for QPSK,16QAM, and/or 64QAM (e.g., a first set of modulation orders or values).As an additional or another example table (e.g., a second table orsecond CQI table), a device may use a new 16-element table that includesCQI values that may be valid for 256QAM (e.g., a second set ofmodulation orders or values). In an embodiment, the second table maykeep some values reserved for future expansion. Additionally, the secondtable may be fewer than 16 elements and may use fewer bits of signaling.In another or additional example, the second table may have values forQPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, and/or 256QAM (e.g., the second set of modulationorders or values may include the orders or values of the first set alongwith 256QAM). Each modulation order may have fewer coding schemes thanin a table such as a Rel-11 table, for example, to ensure that 16elements may be enough to accommodate the new modulation orders. Thesecond table may have more than 16-elements. As described herein, afirst and second CQI table may be provided to enable CQIs (e.g.,reporting, feedback, or measurements) in HOM transmissions (e.g.,transmissions using modulation orders or values such as QPSK, 16QAM,64QAM, and/or 256QAM described herein).

According to an example (e.g., when a device may be configured forpossible reception of PDSCH that may span the modulation orders ofmultiple tables), a device may indicate in a CSI feedback report the CQItable to be used (e.g., whether the first or second CQI table should beused) with the CQI index provided. For example, a device may send a CSIreport that may include an indication of whether the first CQI table orthe second CQI table should be used, for example, for feedback reportingfor HOM transmissions. In an embodiment, the indication may be sent whenthe device may be configured for reception of a physical data sharedchannel (PDSCH) that may span modulation orders of multiple tables suchas the first CQI table and the second CQI table. Such a configurationmay be implicitly determined at a device, for example, when may is alsoconfigured to determine the MCS of PDSCH data via the use of enhancedand/or multiple MCS tables.

Such an indication may be explicit and may use at least one of thefollowing. For example, a bit and/or bit-string such as a new bit or bitstring may be used in CQI feedback report types to indicate the tableused for CSI. The bit and/or bit string may indicate the table. Inanother or additional example, the CSI report type may be expanded(e.g., beyond the current 4 bits) such that the report type may providean index for a table with more than 16 elements. A feedback report type,for example, a CQI Type Indicator (CTI) may be provided and/or used forsuch an indication. In such an embodiment, the CQI table that may beused may depend on a recently transmitted CTI (e.g., the most recentlytransmitted CTI). Additionally, the indication may be provided once(e.g., in wideband CQI) and may be used for each subsequent subband CQIreport.

According to an embodiment, the network may configure a device to use aspecific CQI table in its feedback reports. For example, a device may beconfigured (e.g., via a configuration in a feedback report received fromthe network) to use either the first CQI table or the second CQI tablefor feedback reporting such as CSI measurements and/or reporting (e.g.,CQI reports or measurements) for HOM transmissions. Such configurationmay use at least one of the following. For example, higher layersignaling may be used to configure the device to semi-statically use aspecific table. In an example each feedback report type may beassociated with a specific assumption on the CQI table to use. In anexample, the configuration of a CSI Process may include the use of aspecific CQI table for feedback reporting. As such, a device may beconfigured with multiple CSI processes each of which possibly using adifferent CQI table. Additionally, a transmission mode such as a newtransmission mode (e.g., TM11) may be used. Devices operating in such atransmission mode may be configured to operate with a specific MCStable. For example, TM11 may be used for high spectral efficiency and,thus, may be associated with the use of an MCS table that may allow orenable higher spectral efficiency. In an embodiment, a downlinkassignment may include a bit string indicating to the device that infuture feedback reports a specific CQI table may or should be used.

Additionally, in an embodiment, the CQI table that may be used to mapthe CQI bit in the feedback report to a value of modulation and codingmay also be indicated implicitly by at least one of the following. TheCQI table maybe indicated (e.g., implicitly) by the subframe in whichthe CQI may be reported and/or measured. For example, a device may beconfigured with multiple subframe subsets, each tied to the use of aspecific CQI table. The CQI table may be indicated also by the type offeedback. For example, aperiodic feedback may use a specific CQI tablewhile periodic feedback may use another. Periodic feedback may use aparticular CQI table (e.g., Rel-11 table) while aperiodic feedback mayuse various tables and may, thus, provide or include a proper explicitindication to indicate the CQI table that may be used. The CQI table mayfurther be indicated using the carrier for which the feedback report maybe used, destined, and/or provided. For example, a device may beconfigured with multiple carriers each of which may be configured tooperate with a different CQI table.

A CQI feedback configuration may also be provided and/or used asdescribed herein. For example, to indicate the CQI Table that may orshould be used in aperiodic reporting, each CSI process (and/or servingcell) that may be included in one or more of the sets of CSI processesrepresented by each codepoint of the CST request may be configured witha specific CQI table assumption. Additionally, the CSI processes and/orserving cell may themselves be configured with CQI table assumptions. Inan example (e.g., when a UE may be configured with the meaning of eachCSI request field), the sets of CSI processes (e.g., and/or servingcells) may be configured with a CQI table index. For example, a firstCSI process may be in a set triggered by CSI request field ‘01’ as wellas in a set triggered by CSI request field ‘10.’ Further, in anembodiment, the CQI table to be used maybe different and may beconfigured upon configuration of the contents of CSI request field ‘01’and ‘10.’ In an example, the CQI table that may or should be used for anaperiodic CSI report may be tied to a search space in which the PDCCH orE-PDCCH including the grant with the aperiodic CSI request may bedecoded. For example, the CQI table may correspond to a first CQI table(e.g., a legacy table) in case the grant may be decoded in a commonsearch space, and to a second CQI table (e.g., a table suitable for HOMtransmission) in case the grant is decoded in a device-specific orUE-specific search space. In another or additional example, the CQItable may be tied to the size of the CSI request field. For example, theCQI table may correspond to a first CQI table in case the CSI requestfield may have 1 bit, and to a second CQI table in case the CSI requestfield may have 2 bits. The relationship between a particular searchspace, or CSI request field value, or CSI request field size, and aspecific CQI table to use for the reporting, may be configured by higherlayers. For example, the device such as a UE or WTRU may associate theuse of a CQI table (e.g., suitable for HOM transmission) to a CSIrequest field value or size in case it may be configured to usehigher-order modulation.

In an example, upon configuration of aperiodic and/or periodic feedbackmodes, the appropriate CQI table may also be configured. Additionally,aperiodic and/or periodic feedback modes may be designated for the useof CQI tables that may enable the use of higher order modulation (HOM).In such an embodiment, a device being configured with such a feedbackmode may implicitly indicate to the device what CQI table to use.

In another or additional example, some aperiodic feedback modes may usea device to feedback a CQI value based on the assumption that HOM mayavailable as well as another CQI value assuming that HOM may not beavailable. In such an embodiment, the RI and the PMI may also depend onwhether HOM may be available, and the device may feedback two completesets of RI/CQI/PMI for each HOM assumption.

A relationship between CQI and MCS tables may also be provided asdescribed herein. For example, if a device may have multiple CQI tables(e.g., the first or second CQI tables) and may autonomously select thetable from which to feed back a CQI value, the network may not be ableto schedule the device for MCS values from outside of thedevice-selected (e.g., the UE-selected or WTRU-selected) table. In suchan embodiment, explicit signaling by the network towards the device maybe provided and/or may allow for transmission with MCS values (e.g.,values in the first or second MCS tables) that may not be represented inthe CQI table used by the device.

The MCS and CQI tables may be configured simultaneously and may berelated. In such an embodiment, use of a specific or particular CQItable (e.g., the first or second CQI table) by the device may inform thenetwork that it should or may use the related MCS table in downlinkassignments. Additionally, use of a specific MCS table by the networkmay inform the device to use the related CQI table in its futurefeedback reports. Such a use may be indicated in a previously receivedDCI or by higher layer signaling.

Additionally, in an example, multiple CQI tables may have overlappingmodulation and coding scheme values and/or multiple MCS tables may alsohave overlapping values. In a downlink assignment, use of a value by thenetwork that may overlap multiple MCS tables (e.g., the first and secondMCS tables) may inform the device that for future feedback reports itshould or may switch CQI tables to another that may have the samemodulation and coding scheme value (e.g., should select one of the firstor second CQI tables based on the indication of MCS table such as thefirst or second MCS tables being used). The reverse may also beapplicable (e.g., where a device feeding back a value that may beoverlapping two CQI tables may inform the network to switch tables in afuture downlink assignment grant). As such, in an example, a downlinkassignment that may be received from the network may include anindication of a particular MCS table to be used (e.g., the first orsecond MCS table). Based on that indication, for example, based on theMCS table identified by the indication, the device may determine whichCQI tables to use (e.g., whether to use the first or second CQI tables).

An example of such examples may include a first CQI table that may havevalues (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), a second CQI table that may have values (4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9), a first MCS table that may have values (a, b, c, d, e,f), and/or a second MCS table that may have values (e, f, g, h, i, j).In such an embodiment, a device may be configured with such tables andinformed and/or told of the linking of MCS table 1 to CQI table 1 andMCS table 2 to CQI table 2. A device may be configured to use CQI table1 (e.g., first) and it may receive a downlink assignment (e.g., usingMCS table 1) for value e (e.g., or any other suitable element that maybe located in both MCS tables). Due to the fact that such an MCS valuemay be located in both MCS tables, the device may know that in itsfuture feedback reports it should or may use CQI table 2 and its futuredownlink assignment may use MCS table 2. A switch may also be originatedfrom the device's feedback. According to an example embodiment, to helpensure there may be no error propagation, the table selection may bereset at pre-configured intervals. For example, at a particular subframeinterval (e.g., every n subframes), the CQI and MSC tables may be resetto table 1.

An indication method (e.g., for either the CQI or MCS table) may be usedby the other node or another node as an indication that it should or mayuse the appropriate related table. For example, a downlink assignmentmay include an indication to use MCS table 2 for future device feedbacksand, as such, the device may or should use CQI table 2. The CQI tableindication may also be transmitted in the UE feedback and may be used bythe network to select the appropriate MCS table.

Additionally, in an example, one or more pre-configured MCS values indownlink assignments (e.g., such as 29, 30 or 31) may be used toindicate to a device that for this grant the MCS to be used may be thesame as the last MCS used and for future feedback reports, the deviceshould or may switch tables and for future downlink assignment, and/orthe MCS table used should or may be switched.

MCS and/or CQI table sizes may also be increased. For example, toaccommodate higher order transmission, one or both of the MCS and CQItables may be increased in size (e.g., to include each possiblemodulation and coding scheme). Signaling may also be modified to useadditional or more bits for proper indexing.

In an example, a device may be configured with a CQI restriction list.This restriction list may be higher-layer signaled and/or may bespecified by a bitmap parameter CQISubsetRestriction. For a specific CQItable and transmission mode, the bitmap may specify the possible CQIsubsets from which a device may assume or know that the eNB may beusing, for example, when the device may be configured in the relevanttransmission mode. In one embodiment, each bitmap may be preconfiguredto indicate different subsets. In another or additional embodiment, thebitmap may form a bit sequence where a bit value of zero may indicatethat the CST reporting may not be allowed to correspond to a CQIassociated with the bit. The association of bits to CQI values for therelevant transmission modes may be preconfigured. In such an embodiment,a smaller CQI subset may use fewer bits for CQI feedback.

CQI subset restriction may also indicate the MCS subset restriction thatmay be used in downlink assignment. Additionally, in an embodiment, adevice may be configured with an independent MCS subset restriction. Therestriction list may be higher-layer signaled and may be specified by abitmap parameter MCSSubsetRestriction. Similar rules as those writtenfor CQISubsetRestriction may also apply in examples.

For CQI feedback of a table with more than 32-elements, a device mayfeedback the CQI index in two parts. One part may be fed back lessfrequently than the other part in an embodiment. For example, one set ofbits may represent the modulation while another set of bits mayrepresent the coding scheme. For a flat channel, the modulation may notneed to change very often. As such, a device may feedback the set ofbits representing the modulation less often than the set of bitsrepresenting the coding scheme (e.g., where the coding scheme may bedependent on the most recently fed back modulation level). The MCS tablemay be segregated and indicated similarly. In a downlink assignment thatincludes the set of bits for the coding scheme, it may be recognizedthat the most recently assigned modulation level may be used and/or itmay be dependent thereon. Additionally, the first set of bits fed backby the device (e.g., the modulation level) may also be used by thenetwork and may not need to be signaled by the network for MCSassignment.

One or more configurations for Higher Order Modulation (HOM) may beprovided and/or used. For example, a ratio of PDSCH EPRE tocell-specific RS EPRE may be provided and/or used (e.g., as aconfiguration). In an embodiment, for a device in a transmission modewhere 256 QAM and/or any other higher order modulation HOM may beapplicable and where device-specific or UE-specific RSs may not bepresent in PRBs when the corresponding PDSCH may be transmitted, thedevice may assume that for 256 QAM, the ratio of PDSCH EPRE tocell-specific RS EPRE, denoted by either ρ_(A) or β_(B), may be equal toan offset value of the ratio used for 16QAM and/or 64 QAM. The offsetbetween the ratio that may be used for 256 QAM and the ratio that may beused for 16 QAM/64 QAM may be configured via higher layers and/or may beincluded in the DCI that may include the PDSCH assignment. In another oradditional embodiment, the P_(A) parameter that may be provided byhigher layers and that may be used in the formulation of ρ_(A) may bedependent on the modulation order. For example, a device may beconfigured with multiple P_(A) parameters, via higher layer signaling,with an understanding, an indication, or knowledge of what modulationorder each may be for. Additionally, a device may be configured withmultiple ratios of PDSCH EPRE to cell-specific RS EPRE and each of theseratios may be conditioned on the MCS level that may be used in adownlink transmission.

According to an example, quasi co-location indicator bits may beprovided and/or used (e.g., as a configuration). For example, a devicemay be configured with different assumptions on the quasi co-location ofantenna ports. This may enable the device to be able to receive datafrom multiple points that may not be physically co-located. For HOM, itmay be unlikely that downlink data may be transmitted from rapidlyvarying physical locations. As such, in an embodiment, the PQI bits thatmay indicate the QCL behavior in transmission mode 10 may be reused whena device may be configured with HOM. For example, a device configuredwith the ability to use HOM may reinterpret one or more of the bits ofthe PQI located in the downlink assignment DCI, for example, as anindication that a certain transmission may be for HOM. According to oneembodiment, an indication that a transmission may be for HOM mayconfigure a device to use a second set of MCS and CQI tables. In anotheror additional embodiment, a device may reinterpret one or more of thebits of the PQI to indicate to what MCS table (e.g., or similarly, towhat shifted value of the MCS table) a device should or may associatethe MCS bits located in the same DCI assignment.

Additionally, one or more rank restrictions for HOM may be providedand/or used (e.g., as a configuration). In an example, there may be oneor more configurations where a device may have pre-configuredlimitations on the possible number of transmission layers for HOM. Forexample, a device may be configured via higher layers to report rank upto a certain value (e.g., when the device may report CQI levels that useHOM). Furthermore, a device may be expected to have transmission rank ofup to a pre-configured value when its downlink assignment may indicatethe use of HOM. In such an embodiment, the device may be configured toreinterpret the antenna port(s), scrambling identity and/or number oflayers indication provided in the DCI for downlink assignment. One ormore bits (or equivalently, one or more values) of this indication mayindicate to the device the appropriate table to interpret the meaning ofthe MCS bits located within the same assignment. For example, one ormore values of the antenna port(s), scrambling identity and number oflayers indication may inform the device that the MCS bits indicated inthe same assignment correspond to a first or a second MCS table (and/ora shifted version of the MCS table).

In another or additional embodiment, a device configured with HOM may beconfigured with one transport block. In such an embodiment, if a devicemay receive as MCS for a second transport block one of the reserved MCSindices (e.g., 29, 30 or 31), it may reinterpret that to mean that thefirst transport block assumes a second MCS table and/or a shiftedversion of the MCS table that may enable HOM.

Resource Element (RE) mapping of PDSCH for HOM may be provided and/orused (e.g., as a configuration). For example, a mapping such as a legacymapping of transport blocks to a resource grid may be provided orperformed (e.g., done) by mapping along subcarriers (e.g., in order ofincreasing index) in the assigned physical resource blocks and thenmoving on to the next OFDM symbol and continuing with the same process.Since, in an example, codeblocks may be limited to 6144 bits, the use ofHOM with large physical resource block allocations may lead to somecodewords being completely included within one OFDM symbol.Additionally, different OFDM symbols may be affected differently byinterference since some neighboring cells' reference symbols (e.g.,possibly using high power) may not located in each of the OFDM symbols.In an embodiment, codeblocks included entirely within one OFDM symbolmay lead to large disparity of the error performance of differentcodeblocks. Furthermore, an overall error performance of the transportblock may be dominated by the worst codeblock performance. In anexample, to alleviate this, HOM may use codeblocks larger than 6144bits.

According to examples, a device may be configured such that when HOM maybe used, a maximum codeblock length may be greater than 6144. Forexample, for HOM, a total number of codeblocks (e.g., defined as thetransport block size divided by the maximum number of bits in acodeblock) may be decreased. A maximum codeblock size may also depend onan MCS used. The difference between such examples may be that in theformer, for example, when a device may be configured to use HOM, it mayuse a new or particular maximum codeblock length. In the latter, when adevice may have an assignment with an MCS using HOM, it may use a newmaximum or particular codeblock length.

Additionally, a device may be configured to handle interleavers such aslarger interleavers for encoding such as turbo encoding. In such anexample, a table of allowed interleaver sizes may be extended. Forexample, in an embodiment, a device may be configured with multiple sets(e.g., two sets) of tables that may indicate allowed interleaver sizes.Each of the tables that may be used may include different MCS values.Additionally, a device may use codeblocks that may be greater than 6144.Each codeblock may be segmented such that current interleaver sizes mayremain applicable. In an example, one or more segments of the codeblockmay be concatenated and interleaved to ensure similar error performanceover the segments.

A mapping of transport blocks to a resource grid may be modified toensure that no codeblock may be fully included within a single OFDMsymbol. For example, a mapping may be done over OFDM symbols (e.g., inorder of increasing index) within a single subcarrier and then may bemoved on to a next subcarrier.

Additionally, a mapping may be done over pairs of OFDM symbols. Forexample, a first symbol of the transport block may be mapped to a firstsubcarrier and a first OFDM symbol, a second symbol of the transportblock may be mapped to the first subcarrier and to a second OFDM symbol,a third symbol of the transport block may be mapped to a secondsubcarrier and to the first OFDM symbol, a fourth symbol of thetransport block may be mapped to the second subcarrier and to the secondOFDM symbol, and/or the like

According to an embodiment, mapping may also be provided and/orperformed (e.g., done) over the OFDM symbols of a first time slot andthen may be moved on to the next subcarrier until the first time slotmay be full. Mapping may then be continued in the first subcarrier andover the OFDM symbols of the second time slot and may be moved on to thenext subcarrier of that time slot, until the second time slot may befull.

In another example, the mapping of transport blocks to the resource gridmay be done in a diagonal manner. For example, a first symbol of thetransport block may be mapped to a first OFDM symbol and a firstsubcarrier. A second symbol of the transport block may be mapped to asecond OFDM symbol and a first subcarrier. A third symbol of thetransport block may be mapped to a first OFDM symbol and a secondsubcarrier. A fourth symbol of the transport block may be mapped to thethird OFDM symbol and a first subcarrier. A fifth symbol of thetransport block may be mapped to the second OFDM symbol and secondsubcarrier. A sixth symbol of the transport block may be mapped to thefirst OFDM symbol and third subcarrier. This may continue until thetransport block may be completely mapped within the allocated bandwidth.Such an example may also be applicable by switching OFDM symbol withsubcarrier and vice-versa and hence changing the direction of mapping.In an example, if the next symbol/subcarrier in the algorithm, function,method, or process may be beyond the subframe size (or bandwidthallocated) the mapping may continue on the last symbol and/or subcarrierand move up one subcarrier and/or symbol.

In examples, for example, where the mapping of symbols to resourceelements of the resource grid may be modified such that the symbols of acode block may be spread over more than one, or all, available OFDMsymbols, the mapping may also be provided and/or designed in such a waythat the set of subcarriers that may be used by a code block may bespread uniformly over the allocated bandwidth so as to preservefrequency diversity. In addition, the set of subcarriers that may beused by a code block may be such that the interference from referencesymbols of neighboring cells may be equally distributed betweencodeblocks.

The order of mapping of the subcarriers may be defined, for example,using one or more of the following. For example (e.g., to define theorder of the mapping), subcarriers that may be filled consecutively maybe separated by N or more subcarriers where N may be the number ofcodeblocks. Alternatively or additionally, the value of N may beobtained by at least one of the following: a PCI of the cell from whichthe PDSCH may be transmitted; a RNTI of a device; semi-staticconfiguration provided by higher layer signaling such as RRC signaling;an indication in the downlink assignment (e.g., the value of N may beexplicitly indicated in a DCI assigning resources for PDSCH); a mappingof a parameter of the downlink assignment to pre-configured values of N;and/or the like.

In an example (e.g., for the mapping parameter of the downlinkassignment to preconfigured values of N), n_(SCID) used for thegeneration of the DM-RS sequence may be mapped to a value of N. Further,in an example, the antenna port value may be mapped to a value of N. Thebandwidth in resource blocks of the corresponding PDSCH transmission maybe mapped to a value of N. According to another or additional example,the value of N may be determined by the redundancy version of thetransport block.

Additionally (e.g., to define the order of the mapping), a mapping maybe over symbols of a first subcarrier and the next subcarrier where themapping may be based on or selected from a hopping function. Forexample, assuming 12 subcarriers in the BW allocation, the mapping maybe first performed over symbols of subcarrier 0, then over symbols ofsubcarrier 5, then over symbols of subcarrier 8, and so on until thesubcarriers have been exhausted. The subcarrier hopping function may besimilarly configured as the step size N described herein.

Further (e.g., to define the order of the mapping), a mapping may be inincreasing order of subcarrier within a physical resource blocks (PRBs),but the mapping order of PRBs within the allocated transmission may bemodified to ensure that frequency diversity may be maintained within acodeblock. For example, if the set of PRBs of the allocated transmissionconsists of resource blocks indexed by {3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}, themapping to resource elements may be performed according to the followingorder of PRBs: 3, 7, 4, 8, 5, 9, 6, 10. More generally, if the sequenceN(p), with p=0 . . . P−1 may correspond to the P allocated PRB byincreasing order, the mapping may be performed according to the sequenceN′(q) where N′(q)=N(p) and p=(q mod K)×L+p div K, where K and L may beparameters and the operation p div K corresponds to taking the largestinteger smaller than the ratio of p over K.

In the mapping examples described herein, a PDSCH may be mapped to REswhere PDSCH symbols may not overlap with other symbols (e.g., such as RSsymbols).

In some examples, an additional stage or phase of interleaving may beperformed following code block concatenation. At the output of thisadditional stage or phase the stream of coded bits h₀, h₁, . . . h_(H-1)may be provided such that consecutive coded bits may not correspond tothe same code block. For example, a block interleaver may be used suchthat if the input stream of bits may be denoted as f₀, f₁, . . . ,f_(G-1), the output stream of bits may correspond to the following:

h_(i) = f_(m)

where m=E×(i mod C)+i div C. The parameters E and C may correspond tothe number of coded bits of a codeblock and the number of codeblocks,respectively. The operation “i div C” may correspond to taking thelargest integer smaller than the ratio of i over C. Alternatively oradditionally, another type of interleaver, such as a random interleaver,may be used. Following the additional phase or stage of interleaving andcode block concatenation, the coded bits may be processed according tothe existing process stages or phases (e.g., scrambling, modulation,layer mapping, precoding and resource element mapping). The additionalphase or stage of interleaving may effectively result in spreading themodulation symbols of a code blocks over different time symbols andsubcarriers.

In an embodiment, a payload may be included in a downlink controlchannel. For example, data from a transport channel such as DL-SCH maybe mapped into a physical downlink control channel such as PDCCH orE-PDCCH. Such an embodiment may be particularly suitable for thetransfer of a small data payload.

Additionally, a transport channel data may be concatenated to downlinkcontrol information (DCI) prior to further physical channel processing.Such processing may include at least one or more of the following: CRCattachment, channel coding, and/or rate matching. The coded bits may bemapped to E-PDCCH (or PDCCH). In this embodiment, a grouping of downlinkcontrol information and transport channel data may be referred to as an“extended” DCI, or as a new DCI format.

A number of bits (e.g., such as zero bits or bits that may have a zerovalue) may also be appended to the combination of DCI and transportblock data bits. For example, the number of bits may be a particularnumber of bits (e.g., the smallest suitable number) such that the totalnumber of bits may not correspond to one of a set of number of bits.This set may represent numbers of bits for which the outcome of channeldecoding may be ambiguous.

In an embodiment, a transport channel data may undergo at least part ofa physical channel processing separately from DCI. For example, CRCattachment and channel coding may be performed independently on the DCIand on the transport channel data. In this embodiment, the number orproportion of coded bits and/or coded symbols that may be used by DCIand transport channel data may be pre-determined or signaled by higherlayers. Additionally, the CRCs may have different sizes and may bemasked with different RNTIs. The transport channel data may also beprocessed alone without DCI. The channel coding may include tail-bitedconvolutional coding or turbo coding.

According to an example (e.g., when transport channel data may be mappedon a downlink control channel along with DCI on the same PDCCH orE-PDCCH), at least a portion of DCI may be related to the transportchannel data. For example, the DCI may include the followinginformation: an indication of whether a transport block may be included,an indication of the size of the transport block, a new data indicator,a HARQ process number, a redundancy version, a TPC (transmit powercontrol) command for PUCCH, a downlink assignment index (DAI), and/or aSRS request. In an embodiment, some or all of the above information maybe pre-determined. Additionally, at least a portion of the DCI may alsobe related to an uplink grant, a downlink assignment on PDSCH (forother(s) transport block(s)), a TPC command, and/or other information.

In an embodiment, to reduce the complexity of UE decoding, at least oneof the following solutions or embodiments may be adopted. The set ofpossible transport block sizes may be pre-determined (e.g., according tothe format of the extended DCI) or provided by higher layers. The DCIalong which transport channel data that may be multiplexed may berestricted to be according to one of a set of pre-determined DCIformats. Additionally, a PDCCH or E-PDCCH that may include transportchannel data may be restricted to be transmitted over a specific subsetof E-PDCCH set(s), over a specific subset of search spaces (e.g., commonor UE-specific and/or for a specific subset of aggregation level(s)), oraccording to a minimum number of resource elements or symbols availableto E-PDCCH or PDCCH.

Upon successful reception of the transport block, a device may transmitHARQ ACK over PUCCH (or PUSCH) according to the same rules as forreception from PDSCH. If the DCI and transport block may be separatelyprocessed and the DCI may be received successfully, but the transportblock may not, the device may transmit HARQ NACK over PUCCH (or PUSCH).

The following may provide an example of a device operation according tothe examples described herein. According to an embodiment, the devicemay get configuration information from higher layers. For example, thedevice may be configured to receive downlink data according to a certaintransmission mode for which reception of transport channel data fromE-PDCCH may be defined. The device may be configured to attempt E-PDCCHdecoding using an extended DCI in its device-specific or UE-specificsearch space, possibly in a configured E-PDCCH set and for aggregationlevels of 8 and/or 16. The size of the extended DCI (e.g., or of thecombined DCI and transport block) may also be configured (e.g., if notpre-determined). The device may also be configured with a set ofsubframes over which reception of transport channel data from E-PDCCHmay be possible.

In subframes where reception of transport channel data from E-PDCCH maybe configured, a device may attempt decoding E-PDCCH in certain searchspaces. The search spaces may be determined according to the sameprocedures as for normal DCI decoding. In at least one of the searchspaces, the device may attempt blind decoding of an extended DCI (e.g.,or combined DCI and transport block) assuming a total number ofinformation bits corresponding to the sum of the combined DCI, aparticular transport block size, and/or bits possibly added to avoidcertain sizes. The device may further determine that decoding may besuccessful if the CRC may be masked with a certain RNTI such as itsC-RNTI. The device may also attempt decoding E-PDCCH candidates assumingtransmission of normal DCI as per existing procedures.

If a device may successfully decode an extended DCI or a combined DCIand transport block, the transport block may be delivered to higherlayers. In addition, the device may take an action based on the receivedDCI such as triggering transmission of aperiodic SRS, adjusting itstransmission power control, transmitting on PUSCH, and/or the like.

Stand-alone PDSCH reception (e.g., SA-PDSCH operation) may be providedand/or used. For example, in a small cell environment, radiocharacteristics of the channel for a given device may be less varyingthan for larger cells. In such an environment, scheduling flexibilityand dynamicity may be less critical for a scheduler to maximize the useof resources, and instead improvements to control signaling may bepossible.

An SA-PDSCH operation may be as follows. In an embodiment, SA-PDSCH andrelated characteristics may be defined. For example, improvements may beachieved by reducing or eliminating the amount of control signaling senton PDCCH (or ePDCCH). In an embodiment, this may be achieved by having adevice receive at least part of the scheduling information applicable toa PDSCH transmission on a resource of the PDSCH itself. For example, forsome transmissions, the Downlink Control Information (DCI) may be mappedon the physical PDSCH channel (e.g., for downlink schedulingassignments, for activation/deactivation of resources, for controlsignaling pertaining to SPS-C-RNTI and/or for uplink scheduling grants),possibly together with the DL-SCH (e.g., in case of downlink schedulingassignment).

According to an embodiment, reception of PDSCH according to or based onSA-PDSCH reception may be combined with multi-subframe or cross-subframescheduling. In such a mode of operation, part of DCI applicable to thePDSCH assignment may be included in a PDCCH or E-PDCCH received in aprevious subframe, and/or the remaining part may be mapped on the PDSCH.For example, a resource block assignment and the modulation and codingscheme may be included in PDCCH or E-PDCCH of a previous subframe whilethe HARQ process number, the data indicator, the redundancy version, theTPC command for PUCCH and/or other fields of the DCI may be mapped onthe PDSCH. In embodiments (e.g., as described herein), eDCI (embeddedDCI) may be used to refer to the part of DCI mapped to PDSCH.

DCI and DL data in the same resource and/or in different resources mayalso be provided and/or used. For example, in an embodiment, a SA-PDSCHoperation may be achieved either by receiving at least a part of the DCIand the downlink data separately in different resources (e.g., where afirst resource may include the DCI, and a second resource may includethe downlink data) or together (e.g., either interleaved orconcatenated) in a common resource.

The DCI may indicate plural DL data allocations at different timeinstants such as multi-TTI scheduling. For example, an SA-PDSCHoperation may be achieved by receiving a DCI in a first subframe (e.g.,subframe n) where the DCI may provide control signaling for the samesubframe (i.e. subframe n), for a subsequent subframe (e.g., subframen+1 for a downlink assignment and/or subframe n+4 for an uplink grant),for a plurality of subframes (e.g., subframes [n, n+3]), and/orcombinations thereof. Such DCI may include a single set or parameter(e.g., a resource allocation), or one or more sets of parameters (e.g.,plural resource allocations) for either a single HARQ process such asfor blind retransmissions of the same transport block and/or for aplurality of HARQ processes such as one for each HARQ process.

Additionally, DCI may support scheduling of multiple transmissions(e.g., it may include zero or more downlink assignments and/or zero ormore uplink grants). For a DCI received in subframe n, the correspondingcontrol information may be applicable to the same subframe (i.e.subframe n), for a subsequent subframe (e.g., subframe n+1 for adownlink assignment and/or subframe n+4 for an uplink grant), for aplurality of subframes (e.g., subframes [n, n+3]) and/or combinationsthereof. This may be multi-subframe scheduling.

In examples, DCI may include additional parameters including, forexample, at least one of the following: multi-subframe allocationindicator (MSAI), timing information (TI), and/or any other suitableparameter. For example, a multi-subframe allocation indicator (MSAI)field may be present in the DCI format (e.g., it may be present in casethe DCI may explicitly indicate that it may include signalinginformation for a plurality of transmissions). Such a field or indicatormay represent a value indicating that the same assignment may be validfor x consecutive subframes, and/or whether such assignment may be for asingle HARQ process (e.g., for the indicated HARQ process ID), for asynchronous HARQ operation within the multi-subframe allocation (e.g.,for HARQ processes starting with the indicated HARQ process ID atsubframe n, for HARQ process ID+1 at subframe n+1 and so on up to HARQprocess ID+x−1 at subframe n+x−1) and/or for different HARQ processes asindicated by a plural set of parameters (e.g., one for each HARQ processas possibly explicitly indicated by x number of HARQ process ID fields).

In an example, timing information (TI) (or equivalently a timing offset)field may be present in the DCI format (e.g., it may be present in caseDCI may explicitly indicate timing information for the correspondingassignment). For example, such a field or indicator may include a valuethat may be a time offset, for example, between subframe n in which adevice may receive the control information and the subframe for whichthe concerned allocation may be valid (e.g., subframe n+offset).Additionally, in an embodiment, the TI may be a two-bit field (value 0,1, 2, 3) that may represent such an offset.

According to an example, DCI may use differential coding, for example,within the DCI format itself and/or from a configuration. For example,when multi-subframe scheduling may be supported, such a DCI may possiblyimplement differential coding, either implicitly (e.g., based on aconfigured allocation) or explicitly (e.g., the parameters may bepresent for the first allocation in the control signaling while forsubsequent allocation if a parameter may be present then it may be usedinstead of the corresponding parameter of the previous or of the firsttransmission indicated in the multi-TTI scheduling information).Additionally, for example, when multi-subframe scheduling may besupported, such a DCI may include one or more sets of at least one oftransmission parameter such as one for each SA-PDSCH assignment and/orgrant. As such, a DCI that may schedule SA-PDSCH may have a one-to-manyrelationship (e.g., multi-subframe scheduling) and/or may have anindirect timing relationship (e.g., cross-subframe scheduling) with aSA-PDSCH transmission (e.g., one eDCI and one PDSCH).

Multi-subframe scheduling may be realized with a one-to-one relationshipbetween a DCI and an eDCI, and a one-to-many relationship with a eDCIand SA-PDSCH transmission(s). In an example, the indirect timingrelationship may be provided by eDCI.

As described herein, embedded DCT (eDCT) may also be provided and/orused. For example, eDCI may be defined and/or may include, provide,and/or use New Data Indicator (NDI), a HARQ process, Transmit PowerControl (TPC) command, ACK/NACK Resource Indicator (ARI), DownlinkAssignment Index (DAI), a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) request,and/or the like encoded (e.g., separately encoded). The eDCI maytransport downlink scheduling information, requests for aperiodic CQIreports for a cell and a RNTI. The RNTI may be implicitly encoded in theCRC of the eDCI. Additionally, the eDCI may transport uplink schedulinginformation.

The eDCI may include parameters that may not be provided to the deviceby dedicated signaling (e.g., for a semi-static configuration) orparameters that may be semi-statically configured, but that may bedynamically overridden by the eDCI. Such parameters may include at leastone of the following: a carrier indicator, a resource allocation header,a resource block assignment, a TPC command for PUCCH, a downlinkassignment index, a HARQ process number, a modulation and coding schemeand/or redundancy version, a new data indicator (NDI), a redundancyversion, a SRS request, a CQI request, an ACK/NACK resource indicator(ARI), and/or the like.

For a carrier indicator, a field may be used where the field may beoptionally present in the eDCI format (e.g., it may be present if eDCImay schedule DL-SCH on PDSCH of another serving cell of the device'sconfiguration). Additionally, if present or used, this field mayindicate the serving cell's SA-PDSCH configuration of the device'sconfiguration the eDCI may be applicable for.

A resource allocation header may also include a field that may beprovided and/or used. This field may be present in the eDCI format. Forexample, this field may be present if the total bandwidth of theSA-PDSCH allocation and/or if the total bandwidth of the PDSCH may belarger than 10 PRBs.

For a resource block assignment, a field may be provided and/or presentin the eDCI format. In an example, the field may be absent in case theresource block assignment may semi-statically configured, if theconfigured assignment may not be dynamically overridden by eDCIreception, and/or if the eDCI and the DL-SCH bits may not be received onthe same resource. If present or provided, the field may indicate whatresources (e.g., in frequency) may be used to decode DL-SCH transmissionon the concerned PDSCH (e.g., possibly according to other methodsdescribed herein).

In an embodiment, a TPC command for PUCCH may be provided and/or used.If present or provided, the device may interpret this field according toa legacy field of a DCI format used on PDCCH.

For a downlink assignment index (DAI), a field may be provided and/orpresent in the eDCI format (e.g., it may be present for TDD). If presentor provided, a device may interpret this field according to legacy fieldof a DCI format that may be used on PDCCH.

In an example, a HARQ process number or HARQ process identifier (ID) maybe provided and/or used. This field may be provided and/or present inthe eDCI format. The field may also be omitted in case a specific HARQprocess may be reserved and/or may be associated to a SA-PDSCHconfiguration and/or to a specific set of resource(s). If present orprovided, a device may interpret this field according to legacy field ofa DCI format used on PDCCH.

For a modulation and coding scheme and/or a redundancy version, a fieldmay be provided and/or present in the eDCI format. This field may beomitted in case a semi-static MCS may be configured for the concernedresource. In an embodiment, there may be one such field per transportblock for the applicable PDSCH transmission. If present or provided, adevice may interpret this field according to legacy field of a DCIformat used on PDCCH.

A data indicator such as a new data indicator (NDI) may also be providedand/or used as described herein. For example, in an embodiment, theremay be a NDI field per transport block for the applicable PDSCHtransmission. If present or provided, a device may interpret this fieldaccording to legacy field of a DCI format used on PDCCH. If absent, thedevice may determine whether or not the transmission may be for a newtransport block as a function of the timing of the transmission (e.g.,as a function of the periodicity of the initial HARQ transmissionconfigured for the SA-PDSCH allocation).

For a redundancy version, there may be one such field per transportblock for the applicable PDSCH transmission. If present or provided, theUE may interpret this field according to legacy field of a DCI formatused on PDCCH.

In an embodiment, a SRS request may be provided and/or used. This fieldmay be present and/or provided in the eDCI format. For example, the SRSrequest may be present and/or provided so eDCI may schedule both (oreither) a downlink transmissions and an uplink transmissions. If presentor provided, a device may interpret this field according to legacy fieldof a DCI format used on PDCCH.

A field may be provided and/or present for a CQI request in the eDCIformat. In an example, if present and/or provided, a device mayinterpret this field according to legacy field of a DCI format that maybe used on PDCCH.

Additionally, a ACK/NACK Resource Indicator (ARI) may be provided and/orused. This field may be provided and/or present in the eDCI format. Forexample, this field may be provided and/or present so eDCI mayexplicitly indicate a resource for the transmission of HARQ feedback onPUCCH for the concerned PDSCH transmission.

According to an example, eDCI may be separately encoded and transmittedon a resource associated with eDCI reception for a SA-PDSCH operation(e.g., as part of the UE's configuration) and/or it may be multiplexedtogether with DL-SCH data.

Additionally, in an embodiment, if multi-subframe scheduling may besupported by the eDCI control signaling, a DCI may schedule a SA-PDSCHwhere the SA-PDSCH may include an eDCI that may include controlsignaling in support of a multi-subframe operation for a plurality ofSA-PDSCH transmissions. For example, an eDCI format may includeparameters such as MSAI and/or TI as described above, and may alsoinclude information corresponding to multiple SA-PDSCH transmissions.

In examples, configurations of a SA-PDSCH operation may be providedand/or used. For example, methods to configure a device for a SA-PDSCHoperation may be provided and/or used. In such embodiments, a device maybe configured for a SA-PDSCH operation using dedicated signaling and/orprocedures such as a RRC Connection Reconfiguration procedure and/or RRCsignaling. In addition to the legacy PDSCH configuration, a device maybe configured with at least one of the following parameters forSA-PDSCH: a resource block assignment for eDCI reception, a resourceblock assignment for DL-SCH reception, a resource block assignment forcombined eDCI and/or DL-SCH reception, a HARQ process number, amodulation and coding scheme and/or redundancy version, a periodicity ofthe HARQ process, a PUCCH configuration for HARQ ACK/NACK for SA-PDSCH,a SAPDSCH C-RNTI, antenna port information, rank information, and/or thelike.

For a resource block assignment for eDCI reception, a UE may beconfigured with a resource allocation for decoding of eDCI(s)) and, fora resource block assignment for a DL-SCH reception, the device may beconfigured with a resource allocation for decoding of a DL-SCHtransmission on PDSCH while other parameters of SA-PDSCH may bescheduled by eDCI(s). In an embodiment, for a resource block assignmentfor combined eDCI and/or DL-SCH reception, a device may be configuredwith a resource allocation for the decoding of eDCI(s). In such anexample, a successful decoding may enable the device to continue withdecoding of DL-SCH transmission on the same resource while otherparameters of SA-PDSCH may be scheduled by a corresponding eDCI).Additionally, for a HARQ process number, a device may be configured witha HARQ process number reserved for the concerned SA-PDSCH allocation.According to an example, for a modulation and coding scheme and/orredundancy version, a device may be configured with a MCS and RV, whichmay be applicable to the decoding of eDCI and/or DL-SCH transmission,where other parameters of SA-PDSCH may be scheduled by a correspondingeDCI and/or there may be a set of MCS for each of eDCI and DL-SCHtransmissions (e.g., that may be indexed). For a periodicity of the HARQprocess, a device may be configured with a period such that a subframe,for example, for which the SFN mod(period) may equal 0, may implicitlyindicate that the device may determine or consider that the NDI may havetoggled for the concerned HARQ process (e.g., each “period” of time).

According to an example embodiment, in a PUCCH configuration for HARQACK/NACK for SA-PDSCH, a device may be configured with a PUCCHallocation for HARQ feedback on PUCCH. This may be a PUCCH format 3configuration, a set of PUCCH indices indexed by ARI, and/or anotherlegacy semi-static configuration method for the concerned SA-PDSCH (orfor the PDSCH). The PUCCH configuration may be applicable for thereception of DL-SCH for SA-PDSCH transmission (e.g., and/or relatedactivation signaling). As such, for a PDSCH transmission scheduledaccording to legacy methods, a device may transmit PUCCH feedbackaccording to legacy methods (e.g., with HARQ resources determined fromparameters of the downlink assignment).

For a SAPDSCH-C-RNTI, a device may be configured with a RNTI. The devicemay use such a RNTI for the decoding of DCI(s) on PDCCH and/or todetermine which DCI may activate the SA-PDSCH operation. Such a DCI mayinclude an index corresponding to a SA-PDSCH configuration or relatedaspects such as resources for decoding eDCI and/or DL-SCH data and/orfor PUCCH transmissions, MCS, and/or the like. In an embodiment (e.g.,when, possibly, a second RNTI may be configured), the device may usesuch RNTI for decoding of eDCI(s) on a resource allocated for eDCIdecoding on PDSCH and/or which eDCI may activate the SA-PDSCH operation.Such an eDCI may include an index corresponding to a SA-PDSCHconfiguration or related aspects such as resources for decoding ofDL-SCH data and/or for PUCCH transmissions, MCS, and/or the like.

According to an example (e.g., for antenna port information), a devicemay be configured with antenna port information applicable for PDSCHreception on one or more sets of configured resources. For example, thesame antenna port information may be applicable to the resourcesconfigured for the concerned PDSCH. Each set of resource(s) may beconfigured with a specific antenna port information. The antenna portinformation may include at least one of a scrambling identity, a numberof layers indication, an antenna port(s) indication and/orquasi-colocated antenna ports. The device may use the antenna portapplicable to a concerned resource to determine the location of thereference signals.

For rank information, a device may be configured with a rank applicablefor PDSCH reception on one or more sets of configured resources. Forexample, the same rank may be applicable to each of the resourcesconfigured for the concerned PDSCH. Additionally, each set ofresource(s) may be configured with a specific rank. The device may usethe rank indication to determine the number of antenna ports associatedwith the reception of a transmission on the concerned resource(s).

In an example (e.g., when multi-subframe scheduling may be supported), adevice may be configured with at least one of the following parametersfor SA-PDSCH: MSAI, TI, and/or the like. Using a multi-subframeallocation indicator (MSAI), a device may be configured formulti-subframe allocation for reception of DCI (or eDCI). For example,if configured for such a multi-subframe allocation, the device mayattempt decoding of one or more DCI format(s) applicable to controlsignaling for multi-subframe allocations. For example, the device maydetermine that a DCI received is applicable for multiple allocationsaccording to one or more of the methods described herein and applicableto multi-subframe scheduling.

Using timing information (TI) (or equivalently a timing offset), adevice may be configured for multi-subframe allocation with timinginformation pertaining to such an allocation. For example, the devicemay be configured with the number of subframes and/or the identity ofthe subframes (e.g., within a given period such as a radio frame) forthe multi-subframe allocation. In an example, the device may beconfigured with explicit timing information for assignments receivedfor, for example, a given DCI format. Additionally, the device may beconfigured with a value that may be a time offset, for example, betweensubframe n in which the device may receive the control information andthe subframe for which the concerned allocation may be valid (e.g.,subframe n+offset). For example, the TI may be a two-bit field (value 0,1, 2, 3) that may represent such an offset.

Scheduling in time for SA-PDSCH transmissions may be provided and/orused. For example, methods, processes, and/or actions to determine thesubframe for the allocation and/or reception of a transmission onSA-PDSCH may be provided and/or used. In an embodiment, once configuredfor a SA-PDSCH operation, a device may consider the subframes applicablefor SA-PDSCH operation. Additionally, the device may determine that asubframe may be applicable for SA-PDSCH scheduling according to at leastone of the following (e.g., methods or actions).

A device may make such a determination based a semi-staticconfiguration. For example, the device may receive timing parametersincluding a frame configuration, for example, in the form of an offsetto determine applicable radio frame(s) (e.g., according to SFNmod(period)=offset where period represents a periodicity of period*10ms), a subframe configuration, for example, in the form of a bitmapindicating one or more subframe in the concerned radio frame(s), and thelike. In an embodiment, such a subframe configuration may represent asubframe in which the device may attempt to decode eDCI. Additionally,the device may consider the subframe configuration to be applicable tothe initial HARQ transmission for a specific process and may receiveadditional timing information such as HARQ process periodicity forretransmissions.

A device may further make such a determination based on an indicationfrom the DCI that may be decoded in a previous subframe. For example,the device may determine that an eDCI may be mapped on the PDSCH if itmay receive an indication in a previous subframe. The indication may beobtained from a field of a DCI decoded from a PDCCH or E-PDCCH or eDCIin PDSCH that may be received in this previous subframe.

According to an example, a device may make such a determination based ona semi-static configuration with activation and/or deactivation (e.g.,for SA-PDSCH operation). For example, in addition to a subframeconfiguration, the device may receive control signaling (e.g., on PDCCHor E-PDCCH) that may active the SA-PDSCH configuration. Thecorresponding control signaling may indicate one or more resourceallocation(s) for eDCI, DL-SCH reception, for PUCCH transmissions,and/or for other related parameters (e.g., one more parameters and/orcontents of the eDCI, for example, described herein).

A device may also make such a determination based on a semi-staticconfiguration with activation and/or deactivation of multi-subframeoperation (e.g., for SA-PDSCH operation). For example, the device maydetermine that an eDCI may be mapped on the PDSCH if it may receive anindication in a previous subframe. The indication may be obtained from afield of a DCI decoded from a PDCCH or E-PDCCH or eDCI in PDSCH that maybe received in this previous subframe.

In an embodiment, a device may further make such a determination basedon a DRX Active Time (e.g., each of the subframes while in DRX ActiveTime). For example, once a device may be configured for SA-PDSCHoperation and/or once the configuration may be activated, the device mayconsider the subframes that may be part of DRX Active Time as applicableto a SA-PDSCH operation (e.g., if DRX may also be configured).

Additionally, a combination of the above (e.g., semi-staticconfiguration, an indication from the DCI, semi-static configurationwith activation/deactivation, and/or DRX active time) may be used forsuch a determination. As such, the subframes of pattern when activatedand in DRX Active Time may be used for the determination. In such anembodiment, once a device may be configured for a SA-PDSCH operationand/or once the configuration may be activated, the device may considerthe subframes that may be part of the SA-PDSCH subframe configurationand that may also be part of the UE's DRX Active Time as applicable to aSA-PDSCH operation (e.g., if DRX may also be configured).

If DRX may be configured, for the purpose of maintaining (e.g., start,reset, and/or stop) timers applicable to DRX, a device may considersuccessful reception of eDCI on PDSCH as equivalent to successfulreception of a DCI on PDCCH. As such, DRX operation may be applicable toeDCI decoding.

Additionally, a device may disable and/or release a SA-PDSCHconfiguration upon expiration of TAT, upon detection of radio linkproblems, upon detection of radio link failure, and/or upon similarimpairments.

Resource allocation for downlink control signaling may be providedand/or used. For example, methods, processes, and/or actions to allocateresources for the eDCI (e.g., where the eDCI includes resourceallocation for a PDSCH transmission) may be provided and/or used. Insuch an embodiment, a single resource for eDCI may be provided and/orused. For example, if the device may be configured with a singleresource allocation for eDCI reception in a subframe applicable toSA-PDSCH, the device may perform blind decoding of the applicableeDCI(s) in the concerned resource until it may successfully decode aeDCI or until the attempts may be exhausted. In an example, the devicemay attempt one blind decoding per applicable eDCI size and/orapplicable RNTI. For each eDCI size, the device may also attempt oneblind decoding per configured set of decoding parameters.

Additionally, multiple resources for eDCI may be provided and/or used.If a device may be configured with a plurality of resource allocationsfor eDCI reception in a subframe applicable to SA-PDSCH, the device mayperform blind decoding similar to the examples herein for each resourceallocation until it may successfully decode an eDCI or until theresources may be exhausted. The device may use the identity of theresource allocation for which eDCI decoding may have succeeded foradditional information such as to determine the PUCCH resource for thetransmission of corresponding HARQ feedback.

Explicit allocation from PDCCH or E-PDCCH received in previous subframemay also be provided and/or used. For example, a device may determinethe resource block allocation of the PDSCH including the eDCI from theDCI that may be received in a previous subframe in PDCCH, E-PDCCH, oreDCI in PDSCH. In an embodiment, for each resource, the device mayattempt blind decoding using a different set of parameters (e.g., eDCIsize).

Resource allocation for downlink data may also be provided and/or used.For example, methods, processes, and/or actions to allocate resourcesfor the PDSCH, for example, when eDCI and PDSCH may not be interleavedtogether and/or may not be in adjacent resources may be provided and/orused. In such an example, once a device may have successfully receivedan eDCI, the device may decode the DL-SCH transmission(s) according tothe parameters of the corresponding eDCI.

In additional examples, resource allocation for combined eDCI anddownlink data may be provided and/or used. For example, methods,processes, or actions to allocate resources for the eDCI and the PDSCH,for example, in case eDCI and PDSCH may be interleaved together and/orin adjacent resources may be provided and/or used. If a device may beconfigured such that eDCI and DL-SCH transmission(s) may be received inthe same resource allocation, the device may de-multiplex (e.g.,deinterleave) a set of bits corresponding to an eDCI format from theconcerned resource and may then attempt decoding the eDCI.

The device may perform blind decoding attempts for applicable eDCI(s) inthe concerned resource until it may successfully decode an eDCI or untilthe attempts may be exhausted. In an embodiment, the device may attemptone blind decoding per applicable eDCI size and/or applicable RNTI.Additionally, for each eDCI size, the device may attempt one blinddecoding per configured set of decoding parameters and may decode PDSCHin the allocated resource. In an example, if the device may beconfigured with multiple resource allocations for combined eDCI andDL-SCH transmission(s), the device may repeat the above for each set orresource(s) until it may successfully decode the applicable eDCI oruntil the attempts may be exhausted.

Once a device may successfully decode an eDCI on one resource, thedevice may stop attempting decoding eDCI on other resources.Additionally, for each of the resources herein (e.g., the aboveresources), the device may attempt blind decoding using a different setof parameters (e.g., an eDCI size).

According to an example, a general processing structure for eachtransport block for the DL-SCH transport channel may be similar to thelegacy structure. Such a general processing structure may be as follows.For example, data may arrive to the coding unit in the form of a maximumof two transport blocks each transmission time interval (TTI) per DLcell. One or more of the following coding actions may be identified foreach transport block of a DL cell: adding CRC to the transport block,code block segmentation and code block CRC attachment, channel coding,rate matching, code block concatenation, and/or the like.

Additionally, in an embodiment, a general processing structure for a DCImay include one or more of the following coding actions that may beidentified similar to the legacy structure: information elementmultiplexing. CRC attachment, channel coding, rate matching, and/or thelike.

For SA-PDSCH transmissions, the general processing may includemultiplexing of DCI rate matched bits with rate matched DL-SCH bits thatmay then be interleaved before transmission on the physical channel.Additionally, the respective bits may be received in differentresources, either adjacent or separate, in which case no deinterleavingbetween bits for eDCI and bits for DL-SCH transmission(s) may be used orneeded.

Mapping of HARQ feedback on PUCCH may also be provided and/or used. Forexample, methods, processes, and/or actions to determine where to sendHARQ A/N on PUCCH (e.g., in subframe n+4 for eDCI reception in subframen) may be provided and/or used. In an example, a device may beconfigured with a semi-static resource allocation of transmission ofHARQ feedback on PUCCH. Additionally, the device may dynamicallydetermine the resource for PUCCH according to at least one of thefollowing: ARI that may be received in eDCI (e.g., the device maydetermine that the PUCCH index for HARQ A/N feedback transmission may bea function of the ARI indicated in the eDCI that may be received forSA-PDSCH); ARI that may be received in DCI that may activate SA-PDSCH(e.g., the device may determine that the PUCCH index for HARQ A/Nfeedback transmission may be a function of the ARI indicated in the DCIthat may activate the SA-PDSCH); based on an index of a resource inwhich eDCI possibly including a downlink assignment may have beensuccessfully decoded (e.g., the device may determine that the PUCCHindex for HARQ A/N feedback transmission may be a function of the indexof the resource in which eDCI may have successfully decoded forSA-PDSCH); and/or the like.

In an example embodiment, a timing of UCI associated with a controlsignaling received in an eDCI may be a function of the timing of eachallocation, or of the last allocation of the eDCI. For example, whenmulti-subframe scheduling may be supported, the transmission of HARQfeedback (or more generally, of the corresponding UCI) for a concernedallocation may be performed according to at least one of the following.

In an example, the transmission for HARQ feedback may be performed usinga single UCI transmission per multi-subframe DCI/eDCI. For example, adevice may determine that the UCI may be transmitted in the sameresource for each of the received downlink data assignment (e.g., citherin the same subframe using concatenation, bundling, multiplexing or inseparate subframes). Additionally, the concerned DCI may include asingle AR, for example, in a resource that the device may determineaccording to any of the methods described herein (e.g., as a function ofARI and/or as a function of an index to a resource in which theconcerned DCI may have been successfully decoded). Additionally (e.g.,for a single UCI transmission per multi-subframe DCI/eDCI), the devicemay determine the timing of the transmission of the UCI associated to,for example, a downlink assignment as a function of the subframecorresponding to a specific assignment of the control signaling (e.g.,as a function of the subframe corresponding to the last assignmentindicated in the control signaling such as the concerned DCI).

The transmission for HARQ feedback may also be performed using a singleUCI transmission for each assignment in the multi-subframe DCI/eDCI. Forexample, a device may determine that the UCI may be transmitted in theresource that corresponds to the ARI associated with the concernedassignment (e.g., in case the device may receive one such ARI perassignment in the concerned DCI format or using methods described hereinand/or applied for a given assignment). Additionally (e.g., for thesingle UCI transmission for each assignment in the multi-subframeDCI/eDCI), the device may determine the timing of the transmission ofthe UCI associated with, for example, a downlink assignment as afunction of the subframe in which the assignment may have been valid.

According to an example, if a starting point may be from SPS, one ormore parameters may be moved to the DCI attached to the PDSCHtransmissions. For example, some of the HARQ information may be moved.Additionally, in an example, if a starting point may be from dynamicscheduling, the amount of blind decodings may be restricted, forexample, defining areas in the PRB map where a PRB may be a resource intime/frequency or areas in frequency.

A RRC configuration, SPS activation that may indicate a region, and/orthe like may be provided and/or used. A DCI in beginning of PRB regionsmay also be provided and/or used. As such, a combined scheduling formultiple devices where, for example, each device may have a PRB area, asame RNTI, and/or DCI on PDCCH with RNTI may tell the devices that theymay be scheduled, so they may blind decode in their respective area.

Sub-resource-block allocations may be provided and/or used in anembodiment. For example, PDSCH may be transmitted to one or more devicesover a pair of resource blocks (e.g., a RB pair) and/or thetransmissions to different devices may occupy different sets of resourceelements of the RB pair. Such multiplexing with finer granularity mayreduce overhead when the amount of data to be transferred to each devicemay be small. In embodiments (e.g., as described herein), a PDSCHtransmission allowing multiplexing may be a sub-RB-pair transmission.

As described herein, a RB-pair may refer either to a pair of physicalresource blocks (PRBs) or virtual resource blocks (VRBs). The virtualresource blocks may be of the localized type or the distributed type.Additionally, a sub-RB-pair transmission may be over a subset of thesubcarriers of each RB comprising a RB pair. For example, thetransmission may be over the six upper sub-carriers, or the six lowersub-carriers, of each RB of the RB pair. In an embodiment, a sub-RB-pairtransmission may be over a single time slot of the RB pair (e.g.,equivalently the transmission may take place over a single RB of the RBpair). A sub-RB-pair transmission may be over a subset of the OFDMsymbols of the RB pair where the subset may be defined by an end OFDMsymbol (e.g., in addition to a start OFDM symbol) and/or a sub-RB-pairtransmission may be over resource elements characterized by acombination of the above. For example, the transmission may be over thesecond time slot (or second RB) and on the six upper sub-carriers.

A reception procedure may also be provided, used, and/or performed. Forexample, for a device configured to receive PDSCH transmissions usingsub-RB-pair allocations, at least a subset of the following may beallowed. In an embodiment, a PDSCH transmission may include (e.g., full)RB-pair allocations (e.g., as in the current system). This may be aregular allocation.

Additionally, a PDSCH transmission may include a single sub-RB-pairtransmission in a specific RB-pair. This may be a single sub-RB-pairallocation.

In an embodiment, a PDSCH transmission may include a set of (e.g., full)RB pairs and a certain number of sub-RB-pair transmissions. In thisembodiment, the location of the sub-RB-pair transmission(s) of PDSCH maybe constrained to be in certain RB pairs. For example, the sub-RB-pairtransmission(s) may be possible in a first indicated RB pair and/or in alast indicated RB pair. This may be a mixed allocation.

Furthermore, a PDSCH transmission may include an unconstrained set ofsub-RB-pair transmissions within different RB pairs. This may be amultiple sub-RB-pairs allocation.

A specific sub-RB-pair transmission (e.g., within the whole bandwidth)may be indicated using one or more of the following. For example, afirst index to an RB-pair (e.g., a RB number) and a second index to oneof a set of possible locations within an RB-pair (e.g., a sub-RB number)may be provided and/or used. In such an embodiment, in case Nsub-RB-pair transmissions may be possible within a RB-pair, thetransmission may be indicated by a RB number ranging from 0 to the totalnumber of RBs (e.g., 110 for 20 MHz bandwidth) along with a sub-RBnumber ranging from 0 to N−1. Additionally, a single index to asub-RB-pair transmission (e.g., a global sub-RB number) may be providedand/or used. For example, if the bandwidth may be M RBs and there may beN sub-RB-pair transmissions per RB, a specific sub-RB-pair transmissionmay be indicated by an index (e.g., a single index) ranging from 0 toM×N−1.

In subframes where a device may be configured to receive PDSCH usingsub-RB-pair allocations (e.g., via at least one of the aboveembodiments), the device may determine the PDSCH allocation using atleast one of the following. For example, the device may be indicated thetype of allocation (e.g., as defined herein) from a DCI that may bereceived in the same (or a previous) subframe, or from higher layersignaling. In such an embodiment, a field of the DCI may indicate if theallocation may include a single sub-RB-pair allocation or of a regularallocation. The DCI may be received in PDCCH. E-PDCCH or PDSCH.

Additionally, a device may be indicated a set of RB pairs wheresub-RB-pair allocations exist or may exist from DCI or from higher layersignaling. For example, a field of the DCI may indicate a specific RBpair among a set of RB pairs configured by higher layers or within thewhole bandwidth.

In embodiments, a device may be indicated a specific sub-RB-pairallocation within a RB pair from DCI or higher layer signaling; thedevice may attempt blind decoding PDSCH in different possible locationsof a sub-RB-pair allocation in a RB-pair where a sub-RB-pair allocationexists or may exist based on DCI or higher layer signaling; the devicemay be indicated a set of sub-RB-pair allocations within the wholebandwidth from DCI signaling using, for example, a bitmap; and/or thelike.

Device-specific such as UE-specific demodulation reference signals maybe provided and/or used. For example, to allow for sub-RB decoding, adevice may be configured to estimate the channel via DM-RS. DM-RS designfor sub-RB allocations may be modified to allow for the decrease ofDM-RS overhead as well as the operation of multiple devices within onepair of PRB.

To allow for multiple devices to estimate their channels via DM-RS, oneof the following DM-RS designs examples may be used when sub-RBallocation may be used. For example, if the total number of transmissionlayers for one or more devices allocated within a RB may be less than orequal to 8, each device may be configured to receive DM-RS by beingindicated in its downlink assignment DCI the appropriate DM-RS ports (aswell as a DM-RS to PDSCH port mapping). For example, a first device maybe configured with ports 7, 8, 9 and 10, while a second device may beconfigured with ports 11 and 12. The DM-RS to PDSCH port mapping may beincluded in the downlink assignment DCI or may be higher layer signaled.In another or additional example, DM-RS ports to be used in sub-RBallocation mode may be semi-statically signaled to each device viahigher layer signaling.

Additionally. DM-RS in a PRB may be intended for one or more devicesscheduled with sub-RB allocation within that PRB and may use apre-determined pre-coder that may be configured for the devices. In suchan embodiment, the network may explicitly indicate to each device intheir downlink assignment DCI the precoder that may be used for theirindividual PDSCH (e.g., the precoding that should or may be overlaidonto the DM-RS). In this embodiment, each device may be configured withtransmission of up to 8 ports.

In a DM-RS example design (e.g., a Rel-11 DM-RS design), DM-RS for eachport may be repeated over three subcarriers, each separated by 5subcarriers (e.g., DM-RS port 7 may be located in subcarriers 1, 6 and11). A device with sub-RB allocation of a subset of subcarriers may beconfigured to estimate the channel on DM-RS located within thesubcarriers of the sub-RB allocation. This may enable or allow up tothree devices to receive sub-RB PDSCH for up to 8 ports each.

In an example, for sub-RB allocation segregated in time slots, DM-RSthat may be configured for a device may be transmitted in theappropriate time slot. Due to the orthogonal cover code design of DM-RS,such an example may enable or allow up to 4 ports per device per timeslot. For example, DM-RS ports 7, 8, 9 and 10 may be configured for adevice in the first time slot, and DM-RS ports 11, 12, 13 and 14 may beconfigured for a device in the second time slot. In an example method, aDM-RS port may not need to be repeated over three subcarriers. Thenetwork may, therefore, reuse the DM-RS REs to increase the DM-RScapacity per time slot. For example, in the first slot, subcarriers 0and 1 (e.g., in OFDM symbols 5 and 6) may be used for 4 ports,subcarriers 5 and 6 (e.g., in OFDM symbols 5 and 6) may be used foranother 4 ports, and/or subcarriers 10 and 11 (e.g., in OFDM symbols 5and 6) may be used for another 4 ports. The same may apply in OFDMsymbols 12 and 13 of the second time slot for another 12 ports in total.

Additionally, for mixed allocation or multiple sub-RB allocation, adevice may estimate the channel on a subset of the RBs allocated. Insuch an embodiment, a device may be configured such that for the RBswhere it may have sub-RB allocation, the device may estimate the channelbased on the DM-RS of adjacent RBs. For example, a device may bescheduled for a full RB pair and a sub-RB pair. It may be configuredwith DM-RS in the RB where it may have full allocation and it may besignaled in its downlink assignment to use that DM-RS to estimate thechannel in the RB pair where it may have sub-RB allocation. Theconfiguration of such adjacent RB DM-RS may be explicitly signaled inthe downlink assignment or may be higher-layer configured such that thedevice may look to an adjacent RB when it may have mixed or multiplesub-RB allocation. For an example, where there may be multiple sub-RBallocation, the device may be configured with some anchor RBs where eventhough they may have sub-RB allocation, they also include DM-RS.

Reduced HARQ feedback latency may also be provided as described herein.For example, a device receiving PDSCH according to a sub-RB-pairallocation in sub-frame n may provide HARQ feedback pertaining to thisPDSCH transmission in sub-frame n+kr where the value of kr may bedifferent (e.g., smaller) than the value of k applicable for theprovision of HARQ feedback in subframe n+k used in a system (e.g., acurrent system). In an embodiment, in an FDD operation, k may be equalto 4. The value of kr may be set to 2. Such a faster HARQ operation maybe beneficial to reduced transmission latency in the small cell.

The provision of HARQ feedback with reduced latency (e.g., in subframen+kr instead of n+k, where kr<k) may occur, for example, when one, or acombination of at least one of the following conditions may besatisfied: a device may be configured to attempt reception of asub-RB-pair allocation; the device may have received a certain type ofsub-RB-pair allocation in subframe n (e.g., the device may transmit HARQfeedback in n+kr if it may have received a single sub-RB-pair allocationin subframe n); the device may not have received a regular allocation insubframe n; the device may not receive a regular allocation in subframen-k+kr for which there may be conflict for the provision of HARQfeedback; the location of a received sub-RB-pair allocation may be in aRB-pair (e.g., the device may transmit HARQ feedback in n+kr if thesub-RB-pair allocation (or the sub-RB-pair allocations) may be or mayhave been in the first slot of the RB pair, or if the highest OFDMsymbol in which PDSCH may have been received in subframe n may besmaller than a threshold); the total amount of resource elements or RBsin which PDSCH may be received may be smaller than a threshold; thesizes of the transport blocks that may be received in the allocation maybe smaller than a threshold; and/or the like.

In an example such as when a device may provide HARQ feedback insubframe n+kr on PUCCH, the PUCCH resource may be determined accordingto one or more of the following: a resource that may be determined fromthe PDSCH transmission in subframe n (e.g., an ARI that may be receivedin a downlink control signaling applicable to a PDSCH transmission insubframe n); a resource that may be determined from the PDSCHtransmission in subframe n+kr−k, if such PDSCH transmission may havebeen received in subframe n+kr−k and if such transmission may not havesatisfied the condition(s) for provision of HARQ feedback with reducedlatency; and/or the like.

According to an example, a device may provide HARQ feedback in subframen+kr applicable to both PDSCH received in subframe n and PDSCH receivedin subframe n+kr−k if the PDSCH received in subframe n+kr−k may notsatisfy the condition(s) for a provision of HARQ feedback with reducedlatency. In this embodiment, the HARQ information pertaining to bothsubframes may be concatenated prior to transmission on PUCCH or PUSCH.

Although the terms UE or WTRU may be used herein, it may and should beunderstood that the use of such terms may be used interchangeably and,as such, may not be distinguishable.

Although features and elements are described above in particularcombinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that eachfeature or element can be used alone or in any combination with theother features and elements. In addition, the methods described hereinmay be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmwareincorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computeror processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronicsignals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) andcomputer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storagemedia include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), arandom access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductormemory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removabledisks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks,and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association withsoftware may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for usein a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

1. A method implemented by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), themethod comprising: receiving downlink control information (DCI)associated with a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission;and receiving the PDSCH transmission based on the DCI, wherein the PDSCHtransmission is received over a subset of a total number of orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols included in a time slot,and the DCI indicates the subset of symbols of the timeslot that includethe PDSCH transmission.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining a start symbol for receiving the PDSCH transmission based onthe DCI.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining an endsymbol for receiving the PDSCH transmission based on the DCI.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more symbols toreceive a demodulation reference signal associated with the PDSCHtransmission based on the DCI.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising determining an antenna port to receive a demodulationreference signal associated with the PDSCH transmission based on theDCI.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving thedemodulation reference signal associated with the PDSCH transmissionusing the determined antenna port and a predetermined precoder.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining which modulation andcoding scheme (MCS) table of plurality of MCS tables to use to determinea modulation scheme of the PDSCH transmission based on a cell radionetwork temporary identifier (C-RNTI) associated with the DCI.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the DCI indicates a subset of a subcarrier ofa resource block to be used to receive the PDSCH transmission.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the determined MCS table comprises MCS valuesmapped to a modulation order of 256QAM (Quadrature AmplitudeModulation).
 10. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), comprising aprocessor and memory, the processor and memory configured to: receivedownlink control information (DCI) associated with a physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH) transmission; and receive the PDSCH transmissionbased on the DCI, wherein the PDSCH transmission is received over asubset of a total number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM) symbols included in a time slot, and the DCI indicates the subsetof symbols of the timeslot that include the PDSCH transmission.
 11. TheWTRU of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to determine astart symbol for receiving the PDSCH transmission based on the DCI. 12.The WTRU of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured todetermine an end symbol for receiving the PDSCH transmission based onthe DCI.
 13. The WTRU of claim 10, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine one or more symbols to receive a demodulationreference signal associated with the PDSCH transmission based on atleast the DCI.
 14. The WTRU of claim 10, wherein the processor isfurther configured to determine an antenna port to receive ademodulation reference signal associated with the PDSCH transmissionbased on at least the DCI.
 15. The WTRU of claim 14, wherein theprocessor is further configured to receive the demodulation referencesignal associated with the PDSCH transmission using the determinedantenna port and a predetermined precoder.
 16. The WTRU of claim 10,wherein the processor is further configured to determine whichmodulation and coding scheme (MCS) table of a plurality of MCS tables touse to determine a modulation scheme of the PDSCH transmission based onat least a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) associatedwith the DCI.
 17. The WTRU of claim 10, wherein the DCI indicates asubset of a subcarrier of a resource block to be used to receive thePDSCH transmission.
 18. The WTRU of claim 17, wherein the determined MCStable comprises MCS values mapped to a modulation order of 256QAM(Quadrature Amplitude Modulation).
 19. A device comprising a processorand memory, the processor and memory configured to: send downlinkcontrol information (DCI) associated with a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) transmission to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU);and send the PDSCH transmission to the WTRU in accordance with the DCI,wherein the PDSCH transmission is sent over a subset of a total numberof orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols included ina time slot, and the DCI indicates the subset of symbols of the timeslotthat include the PDSCH transmission.